


Annabeth Goes to Goode

by Everydaynerd



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, percabeth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 20:16:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2705297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everydaynerd/pseuds/Everydaynerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We've all seen a hundred different stories with this premise: Annabeth shows up at Percy's school, they try to balance their mortal and godly lives, yada yada yada. I tried to incorporate as few cliches as possible, and am hoping to view the setting from a different angle than most. Hope you like it(:</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Annabeth sighed as she stepped onto the pavement. She was excited to see Percy, of course, but she couldn't help but wonder. What if he was entirely different here? When they were together at camp, everything was perfect, or at least as perfect as it could be when they were constantly risking their lives (both on quests and on the lava rock wall). But camp was literally a different world. A world where they belonged together under all circumstances, where they had bridged the Poseidon-Athena gap and were completely in love.

High school? This could change things. Jocks, overbearing girls, classes, no Chiron to rein them in when they were screaming their heads off... it was enough to make even the Architect of Olympus nervous.

Stepping across the threshold of the intimidating building, Annabeth thanked the gods that she was so OCD and had arrived much earlier than the entire high school population; she would need the time to mentally prepare herself for this. Go get my schedule, walk through it to all my classes, peruse the library... She found herself in the office, an expansive room that was brightly lit, and contained far too many energetic administrators for the early hour.

"Hello! How can I help you?" A smiling brunette, maybe late thirties, said the instant she saw Annabeth approach.

"Today is my first day, I was told to pick up my schedule here." She tried not to phrase it as a question, but her anxiety leaked out like water from a strainer.

"Name please?"

"Annabeth Chase. I'm a senior, if that helps at all."

"It certainly does! Just a moment." The woman, wearing a name tag that read Ms. Ckral-no, Ms. Clark- rummaged through a file in the drawer to her left, turning back to Annabeth while brandishing a piece of paper as though it was gold.

"Got it! All advanced classes? Good luck to you, I'm sure you'll do well. I can assign you a guide if you would like, to help you find your way."

She shook her head abruptly, "No, I'm sure I can find them myself. Thank you though."

Ms. Clark looked as though she was trying to hold back a laugh, "It's not a crime to ask for help once in a while, you know. I'm sure you're plenty capable, but if you find yourself lost at some point during the day, feel free to come back and I'll hook you up. Getting lost in a new school doesn't make you any less of a person."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at how forward the woman was, "I appreciate the advice, but why are you taking such an interest in me? How did you know that was why I didn't want a guide? Maybe I'm just anti-social."

Ms. Clark laughed, pushing a lock of perfectly curled hair behind her ear. "Oh, let's just say my mom knows who you are, and she's absolutely enamored with your story. She made a point to drop by my place this morning and ensure that I do whatever I could to assist you."

"Do I know her, or is she some crazy stalker?" Annabeth replied skeptically.

"Oh, you've met several times before. I'm told you once did a favor for her, and she's...well, let's just say she's done her best to influence your life."

Thoughts chased each other around Annabeth's head, but she just slipped her backpack on and started for the door.

"Annabeth? One more thing. I know you're really nervous, but...keep in mind, this is just school, okay? The people who truly love us won't abandon us, that's just what Mean Girls wants you to think. It'll work out for you."

Ms. Clark gave one last smile and waved, and only as she exited did Annabeth realize how beautiful the woman was. Not to mention the perfectly manicured nails.

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One down, five to go Annabeth told herself as she made the journey to her locker before second period. She hadn't come across Percy yet (not that she had expected to, he would never even consider taking AP classes), and felt awkward as she meandered through the hall on her way to Calculus. Hopefully this teacher wouldn't make her stand up and introduce herself...she shuddered at the memory of first period. No. She had faced Arachne, high schoolers were nothing in comparison.

The teacher, her schedule said Mr. Evans, narrowed his eyes when she entered the room.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Annabeth Chase, I'm just starting today." She handed him her schedule, and relaxed when he nodded, pointing to a cluster of desks near the back.

"We're working with the quotient rule today, I'm allowing you in groups unless the noise becomes a problem. You do know what a derivative is, correct? If this class is too much for you to handle, we can have you removed immediately. I know advanced classes are sometimes hard for one unaccustomed to," he looked at her hair, and the touch of make up on her face, "strenuous academic workloads."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep her temper under control. She would never hear the end of it from Percy if she scared a teacher into insanity with her dagger (a new one she picked up after the Giant war; she loved her sword of drakon bone, but it was too much of a hassle to bring to school).

"A derivative is the slope of the tangent line, or rate of change, of a function. To find the derivative, one uses a variety of tools such as the product rule, the chain rule, the power rule, implicit differentiation, logarithm rules, and exponential function rules, as well as many other properties. Differentiation was first used by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz in the seventeenth century, later expanded upon by Karl Weirstrass. Should I continue?"

Though his eyes had definitely widened at some point during her speal, Mr. Evans attempted to maintain his dignity, as though she would disregard his previous assumptions of her intelligence. "Very well, you seem suited for this class. Take your seat and begin working."

She crossed her arms, "I'll take my seat after I've said my piece. Now, I absolutely detest disrespecting teachers, so this goes against my nature. It's honestly one of my least favorite things to do, and I do apologize. However, how I feel about showing disrespect to teachers does not even hold a candle to the contempt I feel for those who think they can judge a person's intelligence based on looks alone, ESPECIALLY when the person in question is supposed to be a professional. You know NOTHING about me, you have no valid basis for your inferences of my character, and there is NO reason why it would ever be okay for you to catalogue me like a book on a shelf, and assume that I lack any brains at all because I did my hair and make up for my first day at a new school-or even if I decide to look like this every day. Your lack of regard for the idea of being unbiased toward those who desire to challenge themselves with a more difficult class sickens me."

She knew she had probably crossed the line with her first sentence, but she was too frustrated to just walk away from that kind of detriment to her pride. Though the class was stunned for a moment, as soon as she strode to her seat the whispers began, and everyone was speaking at full volume by the time her notebook was open. She looked up and noted Mr. Evans red faced and staring out the window as though in deep thought, then turned to her new classmates.

Guys. Three guys, two of which were slack jawed, staring at here like she came from Mars for more than was polite.

"I have no qualms about filing for restraining orders if you plan on continuing this. Can we just do the work so we can finish and all take a nap?"

"We're sorry, I promise. We're not trying to be weird. It's just..." he trailed off.  
"NOBODY has ever stood up to him really. They just let him kick them out of the class, and continue on with their lives," one of the other boys continued, looking impressed.

"Leave the class? And risk my GPA? Hades no. Anyway, I would normally be more respectful, but the first day is stressful, and I don't have time for gits like him. My intelligence being questioned is not something I just adhere to."

The guys just nodded like she was a little weird (which maybe she was; spending years with a centaur had to do something) and showed her the pages they had been appointed.

"So, what do you guys do? Soccer, football, debate team, chess club.."

"Well, I do track and football," the redhead who had introduced himself as Matt said.

"And we both swim. John is assistant captain," the blonde, who she then knew to be Sam, nudged John with a grin.

"Oh, that's cool. You must be very good. My boyfriend swims, and he says it's very competitive."

John nodded, "Yeah, I'm not bad. But I never had a chance at captain, Jackson is like a fish."

She held in a giggle. My seaweed brain. At least now I know if I didn't find him at some point today, I can track him down at swim practice.

She tried to do her work in peace, but by the end of the period, it was evident Sam was staring.

"Do I have something on my face?" she questioned.

He snapped out of it, "No, sorry, I didn't mean to creep. It's just...you look really familiar. I swear I've seen you before, but I have no clue where."

"I don't think I've ever seen you before, and I have a pretty good memory. It was probably just someone who looked like me."

He didn't seem convinced, but just nodded and let it go.

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Somehow, Annabeth, Sam, Matt, and John all had third period together as well, and they introduced her to their friend Grace, a sweet but sarcastic girl with shiny black hair and big brown eyes.

"So where did you say you moved here from?" Grace asked as they began outlining the chapter for Physics.

"San Fransisco. But I'm in Long Island for a few months every year, at this camp I've been going to since I was seven."

Grace nodded appreciatively, but Sam looked like a lightbulb went off.

"I knew I'd heard the name Annabeth before! And you said before your boyfriend is a swimmer. It all makes sense!"

John and Grace acted like he grew another head, but Matt seemed to get it. "Oh, duh!"

"Can someone please explain? It's a little weird that you know who I am and I have no clue what you're talking about."

Sam grinned, "You're the 'Wise Girl', am I right?"

She blushed like a fire truck, "How do you know about that?"

Sam and Matt practically cackled, "How could we not?" Matt rolled his eyes, "He's OBSESSED with you. Whenever anything happens, he looks at this picture he keeps in his binder of you guys by a lake and smiles to himself. And if we say certain words, he laughs his head off, and says,'Inside joke. Gods I need to IM Wise Girl.' What kind of weirdo says gods in the plural?"

Annabeth laughed, while rejoicing on the inside. He didn't forget about her when he was here! He still loved her!

Grace rolled her eyes, "Um, hello? Can we understand too?"

Matt stood up. "This," he pointed to Annabeth, "is Perce's mysterious girlfriend. The hair, the eyes, the camp? Not to mention all the smart classes she's taking."

Grace nodded in comprehension, but John raised an eyebrow. "Come on, guys. What are the odds she would show up here? And you KNOW if she really was the girl, Percy wouldn't have shut up about how excited he was for weeks, same as he does every time she visits or he heads over there."

Grace looked offended for her sake, but Annabeth just shook it off. "I get it if you don't believe them, I'm normally the logical person. I know where you're coming from. But you can just ask Percy the next time we both bump into him."

He shrugged his shoulders, and the bell finally rang for lunch.

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Crappy food, long lines, and annoying people. All hail the high school cafeteria.

Of course, Annabeth always took a few minutes to survey the options and figure out exactly what she wanted (the dilemmas of an OCD strategist), but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to today. She hadn't seen Percy, as she had hoped to hours ago, and missing him left her in all kinds of disarray.

She spotted a fridge with drinks for sale, and one blue Gatorade left. Blue. That had to be a sign it was for her. What else would substitute for the Seaweed Brain himself?

The cafeteria was small but jam-packed, and it took her a minute to actually get to the drinks. When she finally reached in, another hand collided with hers as they both grasped at the blue Gatorade. She jumped back at the same time as the owner of the other hand, mumbling apologies and stepping aside to let the other person have the drink. She could remind herself of Percy some other way.

"No, you take it. I'm sorry, I wasn't even thinking. I'm just not used to anyone else wanting it-everyone goes for the red, but blue stuff has always been my favorite."

It couldn't be. Struggling without him all day, just to bump into him so easily?

She looked up to check at the same time as he glanced at her, having been apparently absorbed in the sign giving info about the Homecoming dance.

His jaw dropped and he let the fridge door slam shut, blue Gatorade forgotten.

"Annabeth. You're-you're actually here?" he looked lost, as though worried it was just a dream.

She nodded, and they crashed together, arms enveloping each other as they had thousands of times before. "Why didn't you tell me? Oh my gods, Wise Girl, I missed you so much!"

She giggled as he grinned like a kid in a candy shop, "I wanted to surprise you. And I kind of wanted to hear what people had to say about you, without knowing who I was."

He nodded, but then she scowled at him. "Swim captain? Really, Percy? I was told, and I quote, that you, 'swim like a fish'." He blushed, looking down at her with eyes full of joy.

"I get to be in the water more. What else can I do after school? You were far away, and if I spend that much time with Thalia I will die within a fortnight."

"True," she admitted.

"Wait, where did you learn the word fortnight?"


	2. When in gym class...

As they walked to Percy's table, Annabeth smiled to herself. They were finally doing something normal, and nothing had blown up yet. Maintaining that record could be difficult, however.

Thankfully, Annabeth identified all four of her new acquintances at the crowded table Percy claimed to be his, and they waved encouragingly as she approached.

"Guys! Listen up," Percy hollered, and the whole group faced him curiously.

"This is Annabeth Chase, the smartest girl you will ever meet. Somehow, she happens to be my girlfriend, and is new from California. Whatever you do, no blonde jokes, and NEVER challenge her. To anything. She crushes all adversary."

She blushed and elbowed him, "Stop, Seaweed Brain, you'll make them think I'm crazy."

He grinned, "That's the idea. And it's not that far fetched."

He winked in response to her glare, then turned back to the group as he pointed out each person individually. "Wise Girl, this is Matt, Sam, Olivia, Grace, Ned, John, and Leah."

The people she hadn't met previously smiled at her, though Olivia didn't seem enitrely thrilled to meet her, sending a brief hello her way, then turning to talk to Grace looking agitated.

"So John, you believe me now? Percy, stop," she said under her breath.

John scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry bout that. It's just unexpected, you know? And it's not like pretty girls haven't hit on Percy before. Crap, was I not supposed to-I mean, it IS like pretty girls haven't hit on him before. Everyone without a y chromosome avoids him like the plague. They all think he's hideous, and would never ask him on a date," He began rambling as Percy dramatically motioned to shut up next to her, face palming with the last sentence.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Believe me, I'm fully aware that they're all over him. This girl Drew...well, let's just say she doesn't understand the phrase 'hands off'. But I could really care less if they're all in love with him-I mean, I am, so it's not like I can say they have no reason to be. But I know he wouldn't cheat on me, so it's whatever. Percy, I'm serious, stop."

"Aww," Leah cooed. Grace rolled her eyes, "Yes, lovey dovey stuff is sooo cute. Please tell us all about your romance, because we've never heard Percy tell the story before. It's not like he told us there was a blue cupcake involved a million times."

The whole table laughed, but Leah sat forward. "You should tell us, though. I bet Percy tells it wrong."

Annabeth laughed, "I'm sure he remembers it all fine. He probably just never mentioned that I was the one who had to gather the courage to kiss him, since I knew after five years waiting for him to make a move any longer was pointless."

"OOOOH, CALLED OUT!" Sam yelled, and everybody cracked up.

"Perseus Jackson, if you do not STOP poking me, I WILL call your mother and tell her to confiscate your blue food dye."

He pouted, "That is below the belt. You're not serious, right? What will become of me without blue cookies?!"

She raised an eyebrow, and he gave her puppy dog eyes (baby seal eyes?). He sighed, "I wasn't trying to bother you, I promise. I just needed to make sure you were actually here, and I keep worrying it'll turn into a nightmare of when we were in..when we went by my uncle's place."

She placed a hand over his, wincing at the thought. "I feel the same way. I can't believe we're actually together, and I'm the one who orchestrated this whole thing. But you can't keep poking me like that, or I will have a conniption. I'm here,and I'm staying as long as possible. Okay?"

He narrowed his eyes, "You are not tricking me into saying the line from that movie you cried about last month. But yeah, I'll stop."

"Book, Percy, book. It was the movie adaption of a book."

"Fine, it was a book," he grinned. "But let's move on. Tell me what your last two classes are, just in case we have some together."

She took her schedule out of her bag, giving it the evil eye as she tried to decipher all the letters and numbers. "It says I have PE next, I think? And sixth period is ...Economics."

"We have PE together. So I can watch everyone underestimate you," he said cheekily. "And I have economics a different period, but they assign all the classes the same work, so you can help me with it!"

Her attempts to maintain a clean face failing, Annabeth couldn't help but smile with a sigh. "Whatever you say, Seaweed Brain. But it'll cost you. Next time you get us into trouble at camp, you're on your own with whatever chore Chiron gives us as punishment-even if it's dishes again."

"Oh, Percy gets in trouble at the mystery camp? Do tell," Leah said with mischief in her eye.

Percy shook his head rapidly at Annabeth, but she smirked, "Well, he almost always shoots someone on accident during interrupted a highly anticipated race once with the worst music you could fathom, as loud as he could crank it up. And he snuck away on one of the camp's...horses once, and got a few states away before he got caught."

Grace pursed her lips, "You stole a horse, and traveled across several states? Percy, that is so dangerous you idiot!"

The table cracked up, but Percy looked offended. "I can't help my lack of ability with a bow. Besides, Thalia needs something to be better than me at to boost her self esteem. You know the time with the music was fully justified. And," he turned to Grace, "I was on my way to find Annabeth, who was lost, so I had good reason."

"Fine, fine," Annabeth conceded. "But still. You cause more trouble than Clarisse."

He raised his eyebrows, "Funny you say that, as I seem to remember that YOU were the one who suggested we sneak out on our trip to Greece, and when they found us in the morning Coach Hedge grounded us."

Annabeth's jaw dropped, and the whole table erupted into laughter. "I didn't know you guys were like that," Matt said with a grin.

"No, it wasn't-we were literally just sleeping. Not that it's any of your business," she stuttered, red as a fire truck.

"Whatever you say," Sam said with a smirk.

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"Yesssss," Percy whispered, relishng the word. "What?" Annabeth looked up from her AP Lit syllabus as they entered the gym.

Dodgeballs were lined up across the center of the gym, and there was a gleam in his eye like she hadn't seen since their last face off in the sword fighting arena.

"All right Jackson, you're captain, as usual. Who do you want to oppose?"

Annabeth groaned, glaring at her boyfriend's smiling face as he waved her forward.

"Come on Perce, that's not fair. She doesn't know who's any good, how is she supposed to pick a team?" Ned called.

"Trust me," Percy chuckled, "She'll know as soon as she anayzes the room-that is, if she hasn't done it already. Not to mention she could probably take out half of whatever team I pick all by herself."

Which turned out to be absolutely correct. Forty minutes into the game, Annabeth and Ned were the only two left alive on her team, while Percy was all by his lonesome. Ned relaxed, figuring two to one left no possibility of their loss, but she knew Percy always played it up like he didn't care just before he went in for the kill. She opened her mouth to warn Ned, but the minute Percy knew she was onto him he targeted her with two balls at once, distracting her long enough to take Ned out.

"Percy! Come on, just give up. We both know how this will end."  
He sighed, "I know. It's really sad that you'll never see a victory against me."  
She rolled her eyes, "Give me a break, Seaweed Brain. That wasn't even true when we were twelve."

They both stepped a foot away from the border line, eyes locked, as still as two ADHD demigods could be. "Come on, Perce. Just give up," she breathed, raising a dodgeball behing her back.

He shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't do that. However-" They both launched projectiles at each other simultaneously, and Annabeth sighed as Percy's aim hit it's mark.

"TIE! Hit the lockers!" Who says hit the lockers? she thought to herself, shaking her head as she stood up.

Percy held out a hand, trying to hold back a grin, "No hard feelings?"

She pushed him lightly, "It was a tie, Seaweed Brain. That means we both won. Just go to class, I'll meet you by the senior lockers after school."

"Ok. Love you Wise Girl!" he pecked her on the cheek, then dashed off to get changed.

Butterflies swarmed in Annabeth's stomach, and she caught herself humming Taylor Swift songs. Stupid feelings. Keep it under control, Annabeth. You will not be one of those girls. She took a deep breath and went to Economics, but Percy's voice made its way through the haze of statistics and laissez faire till the bell rang.


	3. I have an organic life form with me

"Percy, what are you doing?" Annnabeth questioned as he set his backpack on the hood of a Prius in the school parking lot.

He grinned, "Opening the door to my car."

Her jaw dropped, "They got you a car?! You're kidding!"

"Nope," he shook his head, swinging the door open. "They were so relieved that I was alive, and back on this side of the country, as well as on this continent, that they were feeling extra generous. And they figured I had to be at least mildly more responsible, after being instrumental in the winning of a war again, and turning seventeen."

"Percy, your head is full of kelp. I can't believe they got you a new car, though! And that you didn't tell me. So much for our healthy relationship!"

He smiled sheepishly, "I wanted to surprise you the next time I saw you. And technically speaking it's not a new car, it was Paul's, and they gave it to me after he got a new one. You may note the circular discolorations on the hood where Blackjack so kindly slammed through the metal."

She narrowed her eyes, "Oh yes, that was when you and Rachel kissed, wasn't it?"

He paled, "I-it wasn't-I mean-" She laughed, "Relax, Seaweeed Brain, I'm not jealous anymore. She's the Oracle, and you're mine."

He squeezed her hand, "Forever. After we die we can chill in Elysium together."

"Deal," she smiled, heat rising to her cheeks.

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"Mom. Mom. MOM I'M HOME AND I HAVE AN ORGANIC LIFEFORM WITH ME!"

He turned to her, then smirked at her expression, "Don't judge. It's an inside joke. Hephaestus would get it."

"Inside jokes with old, bearded gods, calls his girlfriend an organic lifeform. That's my favorite person," she muttered, but he just pecked her on the cheek.

Sally entered the kitchen (where else would Percy have gone first?) with pen smudged on her left pinkey, and the pen itself tucked on top of her ear. "Calm down, Percy, I'm right here. Annabeth, I'm so glad you could come! You're more beautiful every time I see you!"

She gave her a squeeze, then looked at her expectantly. "Where's all your stuff? I want to get you mostly unpacked as soon as we can, that way you don't have to worry about dredging things out of boxes at the last minute if you need them for school in the morning or something."

"It's arriving shortly, I believe. I contacted Hermes, and he said he would drop everything off when he did his afternoon rounds at Olympus, as long as George and Martha didn't hold him up."

Percy snorted, "Those snakes probably hold him up on every delivery. I still owe George a rat. But waitwaitwait, you knew she was coming? Mom!"

She flashed him a smile, "A surprise involves you not knowing, Percy."

He groaned, "I could've pretended like I didn't know! I'm a good actor!"

"Oh, so you would lie to me?" Annabeth locked eyes with him, and he looked petrified.

"No, I-I would tell you-"

"Then you would lie to your amazing mother?"

Sally laughed, "You're digging your grave, honey. Just give up."

"Fine," he pouted. "But what did you mean about setting up her stuff?"

"That's the best part," Annabeth grinned. "Your mom so generously offered to let me stay here. I'm going to be in the guest room; that way, if either of us has nightmares about Tarturus or anything, the other will be right nearby and able to calm them down."

His face lit up, "Really? Mom, you're the best!"

She smiled, "Well, you know I love Annabeth like my own daughter. And I was getting tired of the bags under my eyes from you screaming all night. I know it's not your fault, so I figured we needed to find a solution to help you, instead of just putting soundproof walls on your room."

"That was my parents' reasoning too. They said they would miss me, but my mental health is more important to them. I still have to visit them once a month though, which I'm happy to do; you can come with me and we can hang out in New Rome with Frank, Hazel, and Reyna. And get more of that hot chocolate," Annabeth said.

Percy grinned, "Yay! That's so perfect! Come on Annabeth, let's go do my math homework! I'll bring the cookies, you bring the brains!" He snatched the tin from the nearest counter and was gone like a bullet from a gun.

Annabeth laughed and waved to Sally as she tromped down the hall.

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"Ok, so if you're graphing a polynomial in which the biggest number is x squared, what kind of graph will you have?"

"Well..polynomial kinda sounds like Polybates, who does anti-water, so...an upside down wave?"

"Ugh, Perce! It's a parabola. Say it with me. Parablola. Parabola. Parabola."

"Parabola. Parabola. Parab-god!"

She squinted at him, "Since when do you not say gods? There is no way you're monotheistic."

"No, I meant like literally, a god just appeared behind you."

She swiveled around to find Hermes inspecting his phone, humming...was that "Mail Time" from Blue's Clues?

"Um..Hermes? Sir?"  
He looke up, "Ahh, yes. Hello. As you can see, I brought your things as promised," he gesticulated behind him. "I was also instructed to tell you your mother says hello, and that she inserted a book into one of your boxes that she wants you to read before the next time you see her. Also, Percy," he turned to him, "Again, something about staying away from her daughter." Percy rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but Hermes cleared his throat, "I'm not done. She said to stay away from her daughter, but that so far you haven't and you're doing a good job protecting her, so if you don't stay away from her that's ok too. Then there was something about you not having to protect her, because that is a mysoginist ideal and Annabeth is more capable than you are in the first place, but that if she is unable to defend herself you may step in. And if you break her heart, she will turn you into an olive tree, chop you down, and incinerate you."

Annabeth face palmed, but Percy just shrugged. "They've threatened to incinerate me how many times before? Come on. Mr. D hasn't turned me into a dolphin yet, I think I'll be ok."

Hermes rolled his eyes, "That kind of attitude is WHY we've threatened to incinerate you so often. Anyways, I'm out." He zapped away, and Percy turned back to Annabeth, but she was gone.

"Annabeth? Where'd you go?" He jogged through the house, but she was nowhere to be seen. As he returned to his room, starting to worry, he noticed one of the boxes had been opened at some point, though it still looked mostly full. Anything already moved would have to be pretty small... he smirked to himself.

Turning to the window, Percy felt the tug in his gut he had become accustomed to as he gently called water from the bathroom faucet. "Oh, where could she be? She wouldn't leave, so she must be.." he launched the jet of water at the center of his bed, grinning when he heard a yelp.

"Invisible on my bed, trying to pull one over on me." A sopping wet Annabeth became visible, glaring underneath the drenched hair splayed across her forehead.

"Not cool, Seaweed Brain. Not cool."

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" Her eyes sparkled, and she called, "Sally!"

"You did not just pull the mom card. That is cold." She raised an eyebrow, "So was the water you poured on me."

Paul appeared in the doorway, "Hey guys, I just got-what on Earth? Percy, don't make me deactivate the water in your bathroom again!"

Annabeth laughed, "Thanks, Paul. Good to see you."

He nodded, "You too. And Perce? There's a kid with goat legs in the living room, here to talk to you."

"G-man!" Percy hollered, charging out of the room. A second later, he was back, looking bashful. "Sorry. Thanks for the message, Paul. But come on Annabeth!" He grabbed her hand and started running, and Paul sent her an apologetic look as she was tugged to where Grover sat, munching on a Coke can in the recliner.


	4. Clothes, see?

Perrrcy!" Grover said, awkwardly leaping to a standing position.

Percy hugged him, then initiated a fist bump (of course). "G-man! I missed you. What are you doing here?"

Grover held up a finger, "Let me explain after I say hi to Annabeth, or I might not live to see tomorrow."

She laughed and uncrossed her arms, reaching for the hug. "It's good to see you, Grover. Thanks for acknowledging my presence."

He grinned, "Well, I've learned the hard way that that's the first thing to do in any situation. How've you been?"

She shrugged, "Same old. School, drawing up some designs for the future, doing Percy's homework.."

"Hey, I resent that! You're only half doing my homework, I'm helping."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Helping me do your homework. How charitable. But Grover, what ARE you doing here?"

"Well, now that the war's over I'm doing a lot of environmental promotion work; starting up eco clubs, convincing people to go green, and spreading awareness about the detrimental impact modern society is having on nature. A few other satyrs are working with me, we're calling it FON, for Friends Of Nature. I assigned everyone to the most polluted places in the world; Coach Hedge's cousin Marty is in Hong Kong, poor guy. But I need to be near camp since I'm on the council, and New York was one of the two locations in America I was planning on sending satyrs to, so I figured I would go here. And now I can be near you guys, AND Juniper!" he sighed, a dreamy look on his face.

"That's so cool, man! Where in New York are you doing all this?" Percy asked.

"I'll be doing a lot of traveling from school to school; yes, I will be at Goode, but only for one day, and I have to be serious while I'm there. But yeah, so lots of schools, um, some big corporations, things like that."

"My question is, did you choose FON because you actually wanted to be called Friends Of Nature, or because it sounds like fawn?" Annabeth asked shrewdly, the hint of a smile on her lips.

Grover laughed, "A little bit of both, maybe. But I've got to go see Juniper, I promised to set up a picnic for our two and a half year anniversary. See you guys soon though!" And he frolicked out of the apartment.

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Annabeth collapsed again. The monsters of Tartarus kept coming, launching fire, spears, and rocks her way with every step. She could feel her need for the river's fiery magic grow stronger, and called out when she felt her recently broken ankle break all over again as she tripped over some kind of…well, that's best left unsaid. She threw her arms out to break her fall, and felt broken glass incise all the skin covering her hands and arms, then the back of her legs as they hit a moment later. Asshe drew what she knew would be one of her last breaths, the horde of monsters and spirits overwhelmed her, and she felt something cold slide through two of her ribs. "Percy," she whispered, her breath like flames climbing up her throat and onto her tongue. "Why did you leave? What did I do? I thought you loved me. Seaweed—" She couldn't control her mouth. Or her hands. Her eyelids started sliding closed, and slid out of focus, the monsters' screeches fading away…

"Annabeth! Annabeth, wake up. Come on Wise Girl, wake up, please!" When Annabeth came to, Percy's voice was saturated with anguish.

"Perce?" She said quietly, her eyelids fluttering open. "Oh thank the gods," he muttered, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I thought you'd never wake up. You wouldn't stop screaming and thrashing around, and then you were so still…"

She sat up a bit, her mind gradually clearing from the fog that was PTSD. "Sorry I scared you. It was Tartarus, when I was cursed…Percy, out of all these nightmares, those are always the worst. Nothing gets as bad as it does when you leave me." She closed her eyes as a stray tear escaped, leaning into his shoulder.

He stroked her hair, squeezing her and placing his chin atop her head. "I am never leaving you. Ever. That's what makes those nightmares different; they show the one thing that could never happen."

"Do you promise? Even if I try to make you leave, or I turn into an awful person? You'll always be with me?"

Percy nodded, "I promise. You're stuck with me forever, because that's as long as I will love you. No matter who you are or what you are, you will always be my Wise Girl and I'll be your Seaweed Brain. No curse could keep me away from you."

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Percy jerked awake when he heard his mom's voice, waking him up for school as usual. He looked at her to signify that he was getting up, but she raised her eyebrows, on the verge of laughter while looking like she wanted to reprimand him, when he felt hair tickle his arm. He looked over to find blond curls strewn across half the bed, the pretty face beneath it puffing little breaths through its mouth.

Percy looked back to his mom with wide eyes, grabbing at his collar, "Clothes, see?"

She burst out laughing, her serious demeanor destroyed. "I noticed. Percy, I know you and Annabeth will be responsible with whatever you do or do not do, it's fine. The whole point of this arrangement was for you guys to help with each others' nightmares. I'm just recovering from the mini heart attack I had when I found your room empty this morning. I should've known, I just don't expect you to be gone when we just got you back; I was worried Hera kidnapped you again. Stupid goddess."

Thunder boomed through the apartment, and Sally rolled her eyes. "Whine to me later, Hera. You already got your thanks for ensuring the victory of the gods, I'm a mother and you took my kid. Deal with it."

Annabeth sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "Sally, did you just sass Hera?"

Sally smirked, "Well, Persassy had to come from somewhere, didn't he? And Sally is just sassy with Ls."


	5. Percy Jackson has an actual girlfriend

This is your warning: there will be Blood of Olympus spoilers in this chapter, so if you have not yet read the final masterpiece in our beloved series, and do not want to be spoiled, postpone your continued reading until you have done so. I am not responsible for anyone who does not heed this warning, so if you spoil yourself by being too lazy to read this note, it's all on you.

***BEWARE THE SPOILERS***

Annabeth could feel the countless eyes on her. It wasn't how you always imagine it would be—you know, every single person's eyes locked on you, like a mass stare down, while the hallway is entirely silent. As she and Percy walked past the rows of lockers, people glanced up quickly-long enough for their eyes to pop out of their heads- then resumed activity, the occasional head turning back around to reaffirm what their eyes had already told them: Percy Jackson has an actual girlfriend.

"Seaweed Brain, what did you do to make all these people think you're asexual?"

Percy's cheeks reddened, and he ducked his head to avoid meeting her eyes. "Nothing! They just think it's weird that I've never asked anyone out, especially when I get paired up with girls everyone thinks are soooooo pretty. But then again, they've never met you before, so how could they understand that you're worth passing up all those girls?"

Her heart fluttered, but she was determined not to melt like butter, as every girl in history has when encountering sweet words. "Passing up? As in, you would be tempted to ask them on a date otherwise?"

"Come on, Annabeth, I know you would be tempted to go out with other guys if we weren't together. I heard you call Jason perfect once, and I know you're totally in love with that weirdo from Criminal Minds," he said with a smirk.

"As proud as I am of you for remembering the name of the show, do not insult Reid, he's amazing! And yes, I did say Jason was perfect, but I also said….wait a minute, that was only in my writings from the Argo II's maiden voyage. How do you know about that?"

Percy started backing away, trying to remember the school's layout as he developed an escape route that would actually allow his survival. "Well, you see, the thing is, I um..it wasn't really…I wasn't the one who— "

"Perseus Jackson, spit it out or you will not live to see tomorrow. How and why did you access my personal belongings?"

"Annabeth, I really don't-"

"Now, Percy."

"It was Leo's idea. He… we were bored one night, and you were on duty on one of the upper decks, and he said he had found something I would totally love to see. He didn't…he didn't think it was a big deal," his voice broke.

Annabeth's body, previously quivering with rage, slumped, and she wrapped her arms around him.

"I miss him too. Every time something funny happens, or when my locker is rusted shut and I think to myself, I need to ask Leo to fix this over the weekend. I still can't believe he's gone."

Percy nodded, "I always thought…well, we all knew not everyone would make it. But I really thought it would be us. We've been in so many dangerous situations over the years, and we've made the most enemies..Leo only knew he was a demigod for less than a year. How is that fair? He did so much to help, and he always looked like he felt unloved and underappreciated. I just..I wish it was me instead."

She wanted to cry at the thought of Percy's death, but the fact was, he was right. "I know. I thought it would be us too…most likely, you trying to protect me and stretching yourself too thin, and me going wild with grief, and making bad decisions that would get me killed." They both laughed, but she watched him wipe a tear off his face when he thought she wasn't paying attention.

"That stupid, brave, idiot," she sighed. "Why do we have so many of those?"

"Hey! There is nothing wrong with being a stupid, brave, idiot! The problem is dirt-faced goddesses taking advantage of that combination." She gave him a small smile, but knew all of the remaining six were still drowning in grief.

"All seniors, please report to the auditorium for the Friends of Nature Presentation at this time."

Throwing papers every which way into her backpack, Annabeth rolled her eyes at the ridiculous FON campaign. Only Grover. On the bright side, any excuse to miss Calc was a good one. And extra time to see Percy was never a bad thing—well, except when he was scarfing down blue pancakes like no tomorrow. But even then, he was so adorable…Get lost, Aphrodite. Haven't you done enough? With one last giggle, she felt the goddess's presence withdraw from her mind.  
"Annabeth! Look, we got front row seats. I wonder how that happened?" Percy called to her with a grin.

"Must be a crazy coincidence," she said sarcastically.

His eyes sparkled, like he was about to crack a joke he had been working on for a while, "We must know people in high places." He burst out laughing as she face palmed. "Get it? Cause the Empire State Building is so tall?"

"You're hilarious, Percy. How ever have you not been recruited as a comedian yet?" He pondered this for a moment, shrugging, and plopping into his chair as the principal began to speak.

"Thank you all for arriving in such a timely fashion, although I'm sure you did this more to avoid your classes than for our benefit. Today we are playing host to an organization called FON, or Friends of Nature, here to enlighten you all on the matter of ecological importance, and how you can all make a difference. The FON representative is a lively man named Mr. Underwood, and I trust you will all treat him with respect the likes of which I have never been lucky enough to receive."

Applause rang through the auditorium, and a man in a t-shirt that read 'FON: STAFF' approached the microphone on crutches with striking agility. He had a small beard, and a worn out rasta cap, but he seemed pretty young, maybe early twenties.

"Hey guys, I'm Grover Underwood, the head coordinator of FON. I know I probably seem way too young for that, but you'd be surprised what you can manage in a short amount of time when you're passionate about something. So, I know in the modern age, you hear stuff about the environment, but rarely do anything, and I get it. My best friend was clueless about how messed up our treatment of nature is until berated him about it one night when we were camping, and even after that I'm not sure if he totally understood how important it is for a while." Annabeth felt Percy's shoulders tremble with laughter. "Oh, those were the good old days. Camping is a good word for it," he whispered.

"Anyway, I doubt you all realize that pretty much everything you do has an impact on the environment. It seems like a small thing to just throw away a soda can, but stuff like that builds up. And most people just say, 'Oh, they can deal with that in the future, it doesn't affect me,' but it does. Have you noticed how much the prevalence of asthma has increased in the last twenty years alone? Things like that can take a toll on you without you even realizing, until it's too late. You have to start working toward an eco-friendly world now, not fifty years in the future when nothing you can do will be enough to fix things. And it's so simple, really! Recycle things that are recyclable, donate old clothes and toys before you just toss them in the trash. If you have ideas for more efficient systems for modern technology, speak up! No one gives teenagers credit, but I know you guys are crazy innovative, and you'll come up with a comprehensive solution twenty years before adults who tell you you're wrong will. If you have any idea, system, or technology you think would be beneficent, feel free to shoot me an email. I'll also be setting up a suggestion box in your cafeteria to be collected monthly, because we all know brain food makes the world go round. Anyway, thanks for listening to me guys, and I hope you have a great senior year!"

Most of the kids clapped politely, but Percy went all out, and Annabeth shook her head at her crazy boyfriend. "ALL right G-man! You killed it! Go environment, you're the bomb goat boy! Trees forever!"

"Perce, what are you doing?" He smiled, "I have no clue, I'm just supporting my best friend."

Everyone began filing out, but they waited patiently at the foot of the stage to talk to Grover.

"Hey guys! How was it? Did I suck? Was it super boring?" "It was perfect, I'm totally on board with...trees," Percy said enthusiastically. Grover fist bumped him, "Thanks man, but for some reason I don't know if I can take that at face value. You're obligated to boost my self esteem. Annabeth, from an analyst's point of view?"

"It was really good, Grover. Not too long, not too many incomprehensible words for the average high school student, and it would definitely have been enlightening if I hadn't spent the last ten years of my life hearing you rant about it in much more detail."

He blushed, "Thanks. I was so worried, this was only the second one, and the first school was way smaller.."

Percy clapped him on the shoulder, "You did great, man. Are you coming to lunch with us? We have an extra seat, and I'll get all my friends to give you their Coke cans."

Grover grinned, "Well, I'd never say no to aluminum."


	6. Who doesn't want to see their boyfriend shirtless?

"Way to move, Jackson! It is definitely good to have you back." The coach clapped Percy on the shoulder as he exited the pool, eyes bright and alive after the three laps he had just completed.

Annabeth shook her head at the grin on his face, the cheater, and turned back to her Physics homework. Initially, the prospect of watching Percy practice was intriguing; who doesn't want to see their boyfriend shirtless? But after a week or two the idea lost its marvel; she sat in the stands doing frustrating work for hours, wishing she had little enough dignity to just ask Daedalus's laptop for all the answers as she knew she could.

With a yawn, she looked to the next problem: If an arrow has a positive velocity of- "Help!" The voice was distant, but definitely filled with terror. Jumping up and slamming her book shut, Annabeth looked to see if Percy had heard, but he was in deep conversation with a new swimmer, and she didn't have time to waste. Sprinting through the double doors, she ran at full speed until she found the source of the noise: a small boy cowering from a griffin in the corner of a geometry class room.

"Get away from him!" With a flourish, she pulled her dagger from her belt, launching herself at the creature. The griffin balked, but came at her quickly, hooves and beak alike. A strong monster, of course; she could see the huge muscles move and tense beneath the fur and feathers. But Annabeth had trained under Chiron, so she knew all the weaknesses of the bottom half of a horse, and with the skill of only a trained warrior, she sliced through the griffin's front legs with lightning speed, and it disintegrated.

"Hey, are you okay? It's gone now." The boy looked up for the first time, gasping when he looked her in the face. "You're her! They talked about you at that place all the time." Her brow furrowed, "That place? What do you mean?"

"Where they send demigods. There was a horse guy, and some weirdos with animal legs."

"You came here from camp?" He nodded, eyes widening, "Please don't make me go back there! I can't! I don't want to be a hero all the time, I just want to go to school! They don't like me there."

He cringed as she sat down next to him, but didn't move away, so she put a hand on his shoulder. "What makes you think that?" His lip trembled, "No one talks to me. And I'm all alone in my cabin, and I just feel them all staring at me all the time. They all expect me to be something."

She laughed, "I know someone who knows all about being alone in their cabin. Who's your godly parent?" The boy lowered his head and muttered, "Zeus."

He really couldn't keep it in his pants, and that was when he thought the fate of the world depended on it, Annabeth thought to herself. "I know a daughter of Zeus, and a son-well, a son of Jupiter, actually."

"I heard of them. Thalia and Jason, right?" She nodded, but he wasn't reassured. "They're good, though. The best. They're everything a child of the king of the gods should be: powerful, strong, fearless," his mouth curved downward, "I'm none of that. I'm scared of a bunch of stuff, and powerless."

"You're a son of Zeus, I bet you're a lot more powerful than you think. You want to know a secret? You have to promise you won't tell anyone." He held out a small pinky warily, and she leaned near his ear. "Thalia is afraid of heights. And Jason? He's always worried about not living up to the expectations too." The boy's big eyes popped out even more, "Really? They look so brave in the pictures!" She squeezed his hand, "The thing is, being brave doesn't mean you're not scared of anything. Everyone has an Achilles heel, so not being afraid of anything is dumb. Being brave is just deciding that regardless of your fears, you're going to work as hard as you possibly can to do what needs to be done."

He pondered that for a moment, and Annabeth stood up, holding a hand out. "Do you want to come with me? There's someone I think you should meet." He hesitantly took her hand, and as he stepped into the light she saw reddish-brown hair and the trademark blue eyes she knew so well. "I'm Ben." She smiled, "I'm Annabeth. I'm glad to meet you, Ben."

"Annabeth can you promise me something?" Her smile fell slightly, "That depends what it is. I can promise to help you in any way within my abilities, but I don't want to make a promise I can't keep. I don't know if you've heard the Prophecy of Seven, but...oaths can get you into trouble." She swallowed painfully. "What do you need?"

"I can't go back there. I know you said they care, and maybe that's true, but I just can't. I'm ten, I don't want to try and be a hero all the time. I just want to go to school and go to college one day, I get straight As and everything. I really really want to be normal sometimes."

"Well, Ben, I don't know. As a daughter of Athena, I value education more than most people, and I love that you strive to do well. But it's not safe for a demigod to be alone...do you have any family nearby?" His lips puckered and he shook his head, "They're all gone. Everybody lived in Florida, and there was a hurricane...I was the only one who made it."

Her heart broke for him. She knew there must be a way to help him, but for all her strategy, nothing was coming to mind. "I promise you, Ben, that I will try my hardest to find a way for you to go to school. I don't know if it will work out, but I will definitely try."

"Hey, Wise Girl, I was wondering where you'd gone...who's this?" Looking up, she found a damp-haired Percy smiling at them looking relieved, carrying her books in one hand and a familiar ballpoint pen in the other.

"Yeah, sorry, I came across Ben here in trouble with an eagle and we got to talking." Percy put his pen in his pocket, then held out a hand, "Hey Ben, I'm Percy. How's it going?" Ben looked at him with a trembling lip for a moment, then ran and hugged his waist. Naturally, Percy wrapped his arms around the kid, "It's gonna be okay buddy, don't worry."

Annabeth put her mouth to his ear, "Son of Zeus. He ran away from camp, said he feels alone and is bombarded with expectations he doesn't think he can live up to, and he just wants to go to school." Percy frowned, ever sympathetic to someone in need. Ben looked up with big eyes, "Please don't leave me. I've lost everyone." Annabeth squatted down next to him. "Believe me, Ben, we will do anything but leave you. We're gonna make sure you're taken care of."

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"MOM I'm home and I have two organic life forms with me!" Ben looked startled, but Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Just go with it. He's a weirdo."

Sally entered the room with a sigh, "Who's your kidnapping victim today? Oh!" Her eyes widened when she saw Ben, but she wasn't halted at all, just came over and gave him a big hug. "Hi, I'm Sally Blofis, Percy's mom." "Ben," he said quietly, looking a bit overwhelmed with being received so warmly. "Would you like some blue cookies, Ben?" He nodded rapidly, following her to the food like a duckling. "You'd better not eat all my cookies!" Percy called playfully, running in and ruffling the boy's hair. For the first time all day, a small smile appeared on his small face, and he bit into another cookie with a giggle.


	7. Miss Bossy will have our heads on a platter

"Yo Ben, are you almost ready? If we don't leave in the next five minutes Miss Bossy will have our heads on a platter!"

"Perseus Jackson if you ever call me Miss Bossy again I will—"

"I love you!"

She closed her eyes and ground her teeth, "I love you will not always get you out of the doghouse, Perce. This is YOUR swim meet, you should be the one rushing to get there."

"But you see Annabeth, the thing is, you're planning that it'll take us half an hour to get there because you're assuming I'll go the speed limit. I know that we can leave a few minutes later and still be there early."

"I'm ready, keep the guillotine out of commission! And here's your phone, Percy, you left it on the bathroom counter," Ben handed him the phone as he emerged from the bedroom, looking comfortable in an old polo and khakis of Percy's. Every time he spoke, Annabeth was reminded of his intelligence, and that much more upset that his future was uncertain and she was filled with anger; someone that devoted should be allowed the opportunity to go after their dreams. It didn't help that she was extremely protective over Ben since finding him so vulnerable. Since when did she like kids so much? She'd only known the kid twenty-four hours, and was already as enamored with him as with her own little brothers.

As the three of them buckled up in the car, Annabeth was filled with deja vu, thinking of the dream she had the night before: she and Percy in the front of a mini van, a boy and girl with his hair and her eyes in the backseat, a baby carrier in the middle. They were ten or so years older, and the kids still looked really young, but it was everything she hoped for in a future with Percy. She glared when he changed the radio station during a piece by Tchaikovsky, laughing when the boy in the back started complaining as well.

That night, when Percy awoke to her crying and asked what the nightmare had been, she couldn't explain. She simply wanted it SO bad, and knowing the dream might always be just that was more painful than the broken ankle she dealt with in Rome. And of course, it wasn't like there was a possibility of them being parents anytime soon;; they were so young and clueless, and they had already had so much responsibility on their shoulders. But the small form in the backseat was a reminder of what could one day be.

"Hey, Percy? I forgot to tell you, someone called while I had your phone; I couldn't find you, so I answered it."

"That's cool, bud. Who was it? Did they say what they wanted?"

"Um…" Ben's eyebrow puckered in thought, "He said he couldn't stay on cause it was a pay phone, and he had only had a few quarters and no drachma. He said to tell you the Supreme Commander McSchizzle is back in business." The car heaved forward as Percy's foot slammed on the break.

"Percy, calm down, you'll get us killed!" He took a deep breath, then resumed driving as normal, but speeding five miles an hour more than he already had been; they were a ticket waiting to happen, but Annabeth was preoccupied with thoughts. How could he be alive? And to have gone this long without telling them…she was ticked.

"Ben, honey, did he say anything else? Anything at all?"

Ben nodded nervously, "Yeah. He said he had picked up some interesting luggage on an exotic island, and there was a sound like someone hit him, but he laughed and said you would be seeing him soon."

"My gods, Leo," Percy whispered, "When I see you I will kill you." Annabeth laughed, "That makes two of us. I've about had it with my friends going to Ogygia while I mourn their deaths." He blushed sheepishly, "You know actually, I might go easy on him and pretend it never happened, cause he's a good guy, and forgiveness is a virtue."

With a snort, Annabeth turned around in her seat to face Ben, "It's cute that he thinks I'll forgive him, isn't it?" The small boy giggled, blue eyes alight, but Percy groans, "It's been years, Annabeth! Let it go!"

"That's not how it works! I thought you DIED Percy, and you were living it up with a woman known for her legendary beauty since ODYSSEUS was alive. I can't just 'get over it'."

"For what it's worth," Ben spoke up, "They said you were super ravishing at camp, that even your eyes were scary because of how much beauty they radiate. And I think they were right. I don't see how anyone else would measure up enough for you to have to worry."

She pressed a hand to her heart, and Percy grinned, "Exactly my thoughts, Ben. You see, Annabeth? Even a ten year old knows. Where I am is always irrelevant, as long as you're with me in my heart." He leaned over to kiss her at a stop light. "Suck up," she muttered against his lips.

After exiting the car, Annabeth went ahead to get snacks for her and Ben, leaving he and Percy to meander up to the school.

"So, did they actually say that at camp, or were you just saving my sorry butt?" Ben grinned, "Well, they said she was really pretty..I only elaborated a bit." Percy shook with laughter, "You're the man, Ben. I'm keeping you with me whenever she's mad."

Ben made a face, "No, then she'll get mad at me eventually. And she's scary. I never want someone as smart as her mad at me; if she tried to exact her retribution my life would be over."

"You've got that right, my friend," Percy said, swinging an arm around the boy's shoulder.

When they entered the arena they were bombarded with noise; people were screaming and laughing and running around all over the place. Attempting to find the source of the madness, Annabeth pinpointed seven people across the pool from each other on fire. They stopped, dropped, and rolled like was protocol, but the flames just would not die.

"Percy, seven people on fire? That's not a coincidence." He nodded affirmatively, hollering "VALDEZ! GET YOUR SCRAWNY RESURRECTED SELF OVER HERE!" People stared, but someone got the bright idea to throw the poor inflamed souls in the pool, which finally put out the fire, effectively directing the stares elsewhere.

"Someone call for the hottest guy in town?" And there he was, his hand held out palm-up as flames danced around on it. Percy grinned, but Annabeth punched him right in the gut. "What was that for? I thought you would be happy to see me!"

"Don't worry, Leo, she is. She has a strange way of showing her affection," Percy reassured him. "That's kind of her thing when she thought you were dead but you were actually fine. And if you disappear she'll literally flip you. No biggie." She glared at him, but he held his hands up in a gesture of innocence, "Hey, don't forget what Ben said. Remember Ben? Don't make him watch you kill me. You'll give him nightmares."

Leo looked confused, "Who's Ben?" "Me!" he called, stepping forward from behind Percy and Annabeth. "Woah, how'd you guys already have a kid? I've only been gone for like, a month!"

"He's not-it's-we're not his parents," Percy stammered with a red face. "He's from camp. Anyway, that's not important! Valdez, where were you and how could you let us all think you were dead?!" Leo sighed, "You guys too? Jason and Piper were ready to kill me too. I don't get what all the fuss is about, I'm fine. And it's just me, nobody important."

"Of course you're important! We love you like a brother, we would never just be okay with you dying. You're amazingly talented, and fun to be around, and just a great person to know has your back. And we thought we lost thought we would never see you again, Leo! That is the worst pain. We've been crying and missing you every day." Annabeth stormed away angrily, Ben trailing in her wake.

"Leo, don't annoy the people who actually want to put up with you." A sweet faced girl with caramel colored hair entered the scene, and Percy was speechless. "I'm gonna go try to find Annabeth and apologize," Leo mumbled awkwardly, giving Percy the universal "I'm watching you" gesture.

"Calypso, I-I tried to-there was an oath, but I guess-" he faltered.

"It's okay, Percy," she said with a genuine smile. "I was very wrathful for a while, but I'm not upset with you anymore. Leo told me what you did, and they do say 'it's the thought that counts", don't they? I've been trying to catch up on the modern lingo...did I use lingo right there? Doesn't matter, really, the point is I understand that you thought you helped. And I have Leo now, so I can't even be bitter over your love for Annabeth. We've both found our soul mate, no?"  
"Yeah, but it's still not okay that I didn't check up on you. I knew you were trapped on that island and I never bothered to make sure you made it off. That's a jerk move."

"Well, yeah, it is. But Percy, I've spent a few years on that island holding a grudge about you, and I finally learned something. People make mistakes, they'll do their best and then one day not, they'll forget you or worse, remember you and not care. It's all about learning to appreciate people for the kind things they do, and trying to forget the lapses. If you keep in mind every time anyone has ever failed you, you lose them as well as yourself."


	8. What are you hiding from me?

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Dean! My alarm didn't go off, and then we had to take Ben to school, and...yeah, sorry," Annabeth stumbled through her words, hastily going to her seat.

"Ben? Who's Ben?" Grace whispered curiously. "Do you have another boyfriend?"

"No, of course not! Ben is Percy's...little cousin of sorts. He's ten, and probably the cutest kid on the planet." She smiled to herself at the thought of the son of Zeus, who had stayed up late reading a Harry Potter book the night before-he claimed he had a connection to Harry, due to the lightning scar, and as such could not be expected to go to sleep mid-story.

"Aw, how long is he staying with you guys?"

Annabeth's delighted expression turned dark. "I don't know, actually. He's been with us for about a month, and he has nowhere else to go except camp-the one we go to every summer-and he really doesn't like it there. And I can't take care of him without a job and a place of my own or anything, not to mention I'd probably be awful at it anyway. I get so distracted with my projects, even Percy is forgotten at times. I'm really worried about what'll happen to him."

Grace frowned, "That's too bad. You seem to care for him a lot. I'd like to meet him sometime, if that's okay with you? I'm a sucker for kids."

"Of course! I'm taking the car to get him while Percy's at practice, you can come if you want. We'll probably get ice cream and wave it in Percy's face while he has to swim."

"I'm totally down," Grace said with a laugh. "Thank the gods I don't have cheer practice every day, I would never be able to keep up with my classes. How does he do it?"

"Well, for one thing, he doesn't take AP classes. That adds about fifty hours a week to his schedule that don't need to be spent on work."

Grace nodded, "That's true. Nobody seems to understand how heavy the workload is."

"Oh, I know! It's so annoying. 'You're smart, so school's easier for you than me.' False, BECAUSE I'm allegedly smarter when it comes to school stuff I take more challenging classes that dish out ten times the work.I promise, it's not easy." They sat in silence for a moment, until a thought struck her. "Wait a minute, Grace, did you just say thank the gods?"

The dark haired girl paled, like she was mentally beating herself up. "Oh, just an accident, I guess. That's weird, I never do stuff like that, maybe I've been hanging around Percy too much."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed, "Grace, what are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing! I don't know why you're acting so suspicious, it was a random slip of the tongue." Her voice was controlled, but she wouldn't look Annabeth in the eye.

/

"Annabeth, look!" Ben came running up with a bundle of papers in hand. "I got a 100 on my math test! And a 105 on that paragraph I had to write for social studies! My teacher said I'm the only fifth grader she's ever had who wrote about Thanksgiving in a true context, since I talked about there not actually being a big party with pilgrims and Indians, and how the Europeans killed off ninety percent of the Indians. She was super impressed!"

With a laugh at Grace's shocked expression, Annabeth gave him a hug and appraised the test papers happily. "That's great, Ben! I'm so proud of you."

His small face turned red, and he smiled bashfully. "Thanks." He tilted his head in confusion with a look at Grace, "Who's this?"

"I'm Grace, I'm a friend of Annabeth's from school. It's nice to meet you." Ben grinned and held out a hand, "You too. Are you a-" He stopped abruptly after vigorous head shaking on Annabeth's part, having guessed his question already.

"Am I a what?"

"A gymnast. I've always wanted to meet one," he improvised without pause.

"Actually, yes. Nothing major, I just tumble some for cheer."

Before Ben could keep going with the cover up, Annabeth stepped in. "So anyway, Ben, since you did so well in school, do you want to go get ice cream to celebrate? We'll get Baskin Robins, your favorite."

"Duh! What kind of idiot says no to ice cream? To the Ben-mobile!" And he was off like a rocket, racing to the car like the ice cream was vital for his survival.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"Go Percy! Yeah, aquaman, you've got this!" Ben's high pitched voice echoed out by the pool. As The swimmer emerged from the water, he sent a smile in their direction-and then a scowl, as he noticed the cones they were both devouring.

"Where's mine?" he called.

"Well," Annabeth began, "You-"

"I ate it! It was blue, cotton candy flavored and I ate every last bite!" Ben grinned and stuck out his tongue as the older boy made a face.

She suppressed a giggle as Ben did his own, discombobulated version of a happy dance, until Percy came up and grabbed him from behind, chucking him into the pool.

"Percyyyyyy," Ben whined with a splutter, and the water began swirling around him, gathering enough pressure to shoot him up and onto land, directly into Percy's arms.

"That'll teach you to eat my ice cream!" Percy growled, tickling Ben as Annabeth approached them.

"I'll set my new friend Grace on you! She's a gymnast, she'll do a flip and kick you in the face. That'll teach you to throw me in the pool!"

"Grace?" Percy asked with a befuddled tone. "When did you meet Grace?"

"She came with us to get ice cream, but she had to head home and work on stuff for art club. Which reminds me, I need to talk to you. She's hiding something."  
"What do you mean?"

"She said 'thank the gods' earlier. GODS, Perce, not god. And when I asked about it she got really defensive and nervous."

"You think she's a monster?" he asked incredulously. "But we've been friends for years, she would've killed me already."

"I don't know what she is, Percy, but she's definitely not a regular mortal. We need to find out what she doesn't want us to know, or it could cause trouble."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," he saluted, and a wave of water moved in sync with his arm to crash down on Ben, who screeched, but dissolved into giggles.

"Seaweed Brain, you can't just use your Poseidon-given powers in public like that. If anyone had waited just a minute after practice, you would be done for."

"No, I would just IM Thalia and ask her to come do her snappy-mist trick and everything would be fine."

"And what makes you so sure I would just come at your beck and call, Kelp Head?"

Annabeth's head snapped around to see the huntress herself, smirking at the door to the gym. "Thalia! I missed you!"

"Yeah, me too, Pinecone Face. How's the gang of girls?"

Thalia sighed, "Don't call them that, Percy. I'll have to kill you."

"I doubt you could even if you tried." She raised her eyebrows and the windows grew dark, thunder and lightning crackling overhead. Percy merely laughed, and the pool's water began to draw itself up, forming a churning wall behind him. Both demigods raised their arms, poised to attack, and Annabeth groaned as she stepped in.

"Guys, chill out. I really don't feel like explaining to Sally and Artemis that you've turned each other into dust. Thalia, shouldn't you be with the hunt anyway?"

The weather slowly returned to normal as the daughter of Zeus shook her head. "No. Well, yes, but I received word from Hestia, and Lady Artemis agreed it was more important that I come here, for at least a few days."

"Hestia? What does she have to do with anything?" Percy asked.

"She's the goddess of orphans, did you know that? I had no clue. But anyway, she informed me yesterday that today is a very special day, and I didn't want to miss it."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances, uncomprehending. "What special day? And neither of us is an orphan," Annabeth spoke up.

"I know THAT, obviously. I'm talking about my brother."

"Jason?" Percy wondered aloud. "But he's in New Rome this week, he won't be back till Monday; Ambassador, remember?"

"Not Jason, you idiot. Hestia said you guys found another one, a...Ben?"

A small form stepped out from behind Annabeth, nervously staring at her with wonder. "That's me."

She smiled, "Hey, kiddo. I'm Thalia, your sister. Happy birthday."


	9. Chapter 9

"Birthday?" Percy asked with disbelief. "Ben, why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to bother you," the eleven year old replied quietly.

"Bother us? You could never. This is important! It's a milestone-especially as a demigod. I can't believe you kept it a secret!" Annabeth exclaimed, tossing a drachma into a puddle next to the pool.

"O Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, show me Sally in her apartment." The familiar form appeared, intently typing away on a keyboard. "Sally!" The older woman looked up, surprise evident on her face. "Annabeth! What's going on?"  
Annabeth crossed her arms, "I'll let Ben tell you." He pouted at her, but turned to Sally with big eyes.

"Sally, you wouldn't get mad at me over something that wasn't that intended to be a bother, right?"

"Honey, I raised Percy. I know all the tricks. It's easier if you just tell me what you did now; beating around the bush won't get you out of anything."

He lowered his head with a sigh. "It's my birthday."

The kindly woman's jaw dropped, "And you didn't tell us? Ben, do you realize how little detail I can put into your cake with this little notice? You're lucky I have enough blue dye on hand! Which of your friends from school do you want me to call?"

"Why are you gonna call them?" Ben asked with a befuddled expression.

"To invite them over so we can have a party for you, of course! This is your first birthday with us, we won't let it slip by without making it spectacular." She grinned as she closed her laptop, "If you'll excuse me, I have a party to prepare."

"Aw, yes! Aunt Sally's cake is the best!" Annabeth laughed at Thalia's abundant joy, while pulling out a few drachma. "Hey Thals, is Jason at Camp Jupiter right now, or is it Greek week?"

"I'm pretty sure he's in California, Nico was whining to me about being used as a chauffeur. He said he offered Jason his own zombie chauffeur so he would leave him alone, but Jase wouldn't let up-he said Nico is one of his best friends and he wants to spend time with him."

"Yeah, he's one of my best friends too, but I'm 'not his type'. What is wrong with the world? Not his type, and the ichthyocentaurs didn't want to meet me...not cool." Percy mumbled, Thalia cracking up.

"Don't worry, you're my type. I only date Seaweed Brains," Annabeth said with a smile, pecking his cheek.

"Ew, don't do that. You know how I feel about PDA. Percabeth may be my OTP, but I do NOT want to see your mushiness, knowing it's canon is enough for me," the huntress shuddered.

"How do you even have time to ship things? Doesn't Artemis have a ban against it-especially since she hates men?" Ben asked curiously.

"Little man, the fact that you know what shipping means at the age of eleven means you are awesome and definitely related to me. And there's no ban, as long as we don't participate we're free to ship as we wish-you should see the Are You the One? marathons we have, Phoebe and Rosetta get in the craziest fights over who should end up together. And yeah, Artemis hates men, except for Percy; he proved himself worthy and different from other men a few years back, so she likes him and Annabeth together. We call it a different kind of OTP-they're her ONLY true pairing."

"Guys, as much as I appreciate the support of our relationship, I need to IM someone, so can you pipe down for a sec? O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Jason Grace at Camp Jupiter."

The mist gained color and began to swirl, and the image gradually focused, becoming a boy and girl wrapped in each others arms, mid make out, behind the Temple of Venus. Annabeth's eyes widened before she went to discreetly slash the message away, but before she could a small voice yelled, "AHHHHHH my eyes! My innocent eyes are forever corrupted, my soul condemned!"

The girl jerked away to look at the Iris Message, cheeks ablaze. "Oh, hi Annabeth, Percy, Thalia...who's that?"

Percy stepped forward with a smirk, "Well, Piper, this is Ben, who you just traumatized for life. I'm ashamed of you, ten year olds don't need to see that kind of thing."

"I'm so sorry, Ben. Are you really that traumatized?"

The boy snorted, "Of course not, my favorite show is Doctor Who-do you even know how many people get kissed by Captain Jack?"

Annabeth's eyes lit up, "You're a Whovian? Ben, you're my favorite."

"I thought I was your favorite!" Percy whined. "Not you too!"

"You don't talk about Doctor Who with me, or pay attention when we watch it!"

"I do so!"

"Oh yeah? Can you name any character other than Rory?"

Percy raised an eyebrow with a snarky grin. "Of course. The Doctor."

"Perseus, I will strangle you someday."

"Yo, Percabeth!" Their noses bumped into each other as they turned to face the Iris Message, having edged closer and closer throughout their argument. "What, Jason?" Percy called.

"As annoyingly adorable and hilarious as you guys are, I think the rest of us would rather not waste away watching."

"Come on, Grace, what better way is there to pass the time? Nothing beats the privilege of being a spectator of my fabulous self," Percy said, striking a pose.

"Have you not heard of pizza? Pizza beats everything," Ben spoke up, provoking laughter from every member of group.

Thalia threw an arm around his shoulder, "You, sir, are my favorite brother ever."

"Hey! What about me?" Jason exclaimed, sounding miffed.

"Serves you right! Now you know how it feels," Percy cackled, Annabeth swatting him with an eye roll.

"Wait...brother?" Jason inquired disconcertedly.

"Yepp. Ben is the newest member of the broken oath club, and you and I have the pleasure of being able to call him our sibling. I have a little brother who's actually shorter than me again!"

"Anywho," Annabeth inserted herself, turning her attention away from Thalia's happy dance, "It just so happens that today is Ben's birthday, the big eleven, so we're throwing him a last minute party, and we want you two, Hazel, Frank, Nico, and Reyna to come-last minute, because he didn't tell us until Thals showed up."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Hm, a son of the king of the gods who doesn't tell people it's his birthday until the situation forces it out of him, why does that sound so familiar?" Jason blushed with a small smile, squeezing her hand in apology. "Come on, Pipes, you know I was just trying to be helpful."

"Whatever, Sparky. But of course, Annabeth, we'll head over as soon as we can, although it might take a few minutes for me to talk Reyna into it-you know, 'No praetor to protect the legion, I must stay, I don't think Bobby would want to', blah blah blah. But we'll definitely be there soon."

"Awesome," the daughter of Athena beamed.

"Hey, Annabeth? It would be really really great if you could invite Will as well, Nico's been ready to bite my head for dragging him here for so long."

"Sure thing, Jason," she laughed, waving as he reached to end the message.


	10. You're not supposed to tell mortals!

"Do you think he's having fun yet?" Percy asked Annabeth, another handful of chips on its way to his mouth.

"I'm sure, haven't you noticed how he's looking at that Jensen boy? Someone's got a crush," she replied in a sing-song voice, smiling as she watched the eleven year old dominate at Jenga. I spy an architect, she thought to herself.

"Percy, there's something I wanted to mention to you before. Did you notice...in the IM, your mom said it was the first birthday he was spending with us."

Percy squinted, "Yeah, cause it is his first birthday with us, what are you getting at?"

"Well, normally, for someone who's just staying with you for a short while, you would say it's the ONLY birthday they'll have with you, right? The way she worded it sounded to me like she was planning on him sticking around."

"Huh. That is kind of weird. But I'm sure she'll reveal whatever she's planning soon, she's not one to keep a secret for long. Besides, you need to stop thinking all the time, it's bad for your brain."

"Actually, it's good for your brain, the more you think and learn the more neural pathways connect, and your cerebral cortex wrinkles as it expands further."

"Annabeeeeeth, I love how smart you are, you know that. I think it's adorable when you go on about things I will never understand. But we're at a party, can you relax and just let me smash a cupcake in your face?" he asked, reaching toward the dessert tray.

"I suppose I could do that. Or, as a strategist who knows you very well and would have figured out what you were planning, I could do this," and she pulled the two cupcakes from behind her back and struck, one cupcake between his eyes and one on his mouth.

"Very clever, Wise Girl. Problem is, now I have icing all over my lips, so I'll need your help to get it off." She rolled her eyes but obliged as he leaned forward to kiss her, forgetting the mass of children in the adjacent room.

"Dang, you guys make out more than Nico and Will."

Percy grinned as he broke away, icing smeared across his mouth and chin. "That's funny, Jason, cause I seem to remember you being the one to scar Ben on his birthday."

The blonde laughed, "Touche. But, hey we've got the party with us," and he gestured to the group behind him.

"That sounds an awful lot like the title of a Hannah Montana song," Frank mumbled, and all eyes turned to him.

"Frank, you watched Hannah Montana?" Annabeth exclaimed.

"It was a good show. And my grandmother only let us get a few stations on cable," he defended.

"Hannah Montana? Why would someone name their daughter after a state? And what's cable?" Hazel asked, confused.

"Cable, my friend and almost great-grandmother, is one of the greatest inventions of all time, second only to the Argo II. And I know I didn't hear you dissing my favorite pop star, Annabeth. I would have to revoke your status as second best demigod engineer in the room," Leo said as he strutted inside, a bemused Calypso beside him.

"Hey, Supreme McShizzle!" Ben called, running into the room packed full of half-bloods to high five the son of Hephaestus.

"Yo, Ben, my man! Happy birthday, I hear it's your eleventh."

"It is! I've never had a party before, this is soooo exciting! You should try the cake. It's good cake, I really like cake, and oh wow I love ice cream there's some of that too. Can you eat ice cream? Or does it melt since you're the fire guy?" he yammered in fast succession.

"Hey Ben, did you need something, or did you just come in here to say hi?" Annabeth asked, holding back her amusement.

"Oh, I wanted to ask if you could invite Grace over for the party. Could you?" he pleaded with big eyes.

"Of course, I'll use Sally's phone to call her in just a minute," Annabeth replied, locking eyes with Percy meaningfully as Ben ran back to his friends.

"Who's Grace?" Will asked curiously.

"A friend. Who, incidentally, has some connection to the demigod world that she's keeping secret and we can't figure out, so if you guys notice anything strange let us know," Percy announced almost-quietly as Annabeth returned from making the phone call.

"Why don't you just have Grover check her out?" Nico spoke for the first time, his fingers interlocked with Will's. Annabeth was relieved to notice how much weight he had regained since emerging from Tartarus, and his mood seemed better than she had seen it since his Mythomagic days.

"That's a good idea, Nico. I think he and Juniper are stopping by later-they're so grateful for that contraption you made to allow her to travel, Leo. But I'll definitely have him take a sniff," Annabeth said, moving toward the door as she heard rapping from the other side.

"Hello-John?" she asked, astonished. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I don't wear the Domino's visor and carry around stacks of pizza for my own enjoyment. I do deliveries, somebody here ordered two cheese two pepperoni, a supreme, and a Jackson special?"

"PIZZA!" Percy charged to the door, grabbed the stack of boxes, and sprinted to the other room, leaving Annabeth and John laughing.

"What am I going to do with him?" she muttered to herself, a small smile gracing her lips. "So, John, what time do you get off? We're having a party for Percy's little cousin, you should come back and hang out."

"Actually, this is my last delivery, so I can just stay. Did Sally make cake?"

"But of course. Come on in, you can meet the gang from camp. I think you'll like them."

/

"These are Jason, Piper, Nico, Will, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Calypso, and Reyna-Rey?" Annabeth called as the daughter of Bellona stared off into the distance, being the only one to not greet John.

The brunette didn't seem to register her voice, and was still until Leo called, "RA-RA, you in there?"

Her head snapped to the side as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I will vaporize you, Valdez."

He grinned wickedly, "Oooh, alliteration, my favorite. But I was just doing Annabeth a favor, say hi to our new friend John from Domino's. Oh, John from Domino's, you're like our very own Alex from Target!"

Rolling her eyes, Reyna turned her gaze to John-and froze. "Hi," He waved sheepishly, his eyes locked on hers.

"Hello," she replied automatically, then grimaced. "I mean hey. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Annabeth saw Piper grin as she internally fangirled, and poked her in the side. "Breakfast thief, your Aphrodite is showing."

"Come on, Annie, you know it could happen. I want it to happen. We can call them Reyohn," she whispered back, ignoring the glare she received after saying Annie.

Annabeth bit back a response as someone banged on the door impatiently, and found Grover on the other side, staring at Grace in shock. "You're not human!" he exclaimed, and Grace glanced at Annabeth, looking terrified.

"Grover, shh, there's a mortal right through the door, he'll hear you!" Annabeth chastised, ushering them in the door and turning to face a confused John, still glancing at Reyna every few seconds.

"I know you!" Jason blurted out, and Annabeth face palmed. "Hey John, could you run and bring me my camera? Percy should be able to show you where it is," she requested kindly, relieved as he nodded and left the room.

"I know you!" Jason said again. "I can't remember where from, some of my older memories are still a little fuzzy, but...I've seen you before."

Grace paled, "I'm sure it was just someone who looked like me, we've never met."

"No, he's right," Reyna declared. "You were in my cohort the first summer I showed up at camp, but you left after a month or so. You're...Grace, right?"

The black haired girl sighed in resignation, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. I'm a Roman legacy-my mom is a daughter of Apollo and my dad is a son of Ceres."

"Wait, both your parents are the children of major gods and you've all stayed safe outside of camp this long?" Percy asked, having just stepped into the room.

"Yeah, er, there've been some close calls but they wanted to make it work so they just try really hard. I mean, my brother and I are used to it so I don't really find it unusual anymore. But Percy, how did you know to come in here?"

"Annabeth doesn't have a camera. I just told John something about looking through the closet in the guest room, which is our storage closet, and I knew something godly must've been up if she wanted him out of the room," he said, pleased with himself.

"How do you guys...what do you all know about the gods? I know he's the son of Jupiter, everyone loved him at camp, and Reyna's mom is the war goddess, but the rest of you weren't there. I have an eidetic memory, so I'm positive."

"I'm a son of Mars, and Praetor alongside Reyna at the moment," Frank said, sounding proud but a bit awkward. "I'm a child of Pluto, and so is Nico," Hazel added.

"The rest of us are Greek demigods-Nico too. If you couldn't tell I'm a daughter of Athena," Annabeth said amicably. Percy rolled his eyes, "If she couldn't tell. Give me a break, what else could you be?"

Grace raised an eyebrow, "And you're the son of Nepune, right?" Annabeth laughed at his embarrassed expression.

"Percy, what are you doing?! You're not supposed to tell mortals!" Ben yelled, shocked, having just run in. "Ignore him, Grace, he's crazy. You want pizza?"

Percy laughed, "Ben, she knows. Her parents are demigods. And I'm perfectly sane, little punk!" He ruffled his hair.

"Oh. Then I guess you should know I'm a son of Zeus," he grinned, Grace's jaw dropping.

"A son of Zeus who has yet to say hi to his brother, or any of the other people who brought him presents," Jason said with a smile, holding up a small box.

"Oops! Hi, Jason. I've heard a lot about you. Can you teach me to fly?" The son of Jupiter beamed, "I would love to. Where's our sister, by the way?"

Ben waved in the general direction of the window, "She went somewhere, I have no clue, she just said she would be back late, or maybe in the morning. Said there was someone she needed to check up on. She looked kind of sad, but she said not to worry about it."

The group paled, but Annabeth stayed confident. "Come on guys, this is Thalia. If something was seriously wrong she would've talked to us, I'm sure she'll explain when she gets back. She can handle herself."

/

"Does anyone need anything? More blankets, popcorn, cookies?" Sally asked kindly, looking over the piles of blankets on the floor.

"ALWAYS cookies, Sally," Leo said, already more hyper than necessary, but she shook her head and said goodnight.

After the kids left, Ben's birthday party had turned into a huge demigod-satyr sleepover in the Jackson-Blofis living room, plus John (which severely restricted the schema of topics for discussion).

"So Ben," Percy said quietly with a wicked grin as the other teenagers talked among themselves, "Who was that boy with the light brown hair?"

The eleven year old blushed, "Oh, you mean Dean? Dean Jensen?"

"Deeeeeaaaan. Nice name. You guys seem to get along well," Percy teased.

"We're friends," Ben said astutely, looking embarrassed and unsure of himself.

"It's okay, Ben. I ship it," Annabeth inserted herself in the discussion, sending Ben to new shades of red.

"You don't...you don't think it's wrong?" He said softly.

"Oh, Ben, not at all," she simpered, moving to wrap her arms around him. "Love is love, no matter what color or age or gender or religion you are. Your happiness is all that matters."

"Exactly. But if we were the same age, I would be your type, right?" Percy said, still miffed.

"Can it, Percy. You sound like Piper's mother. But that brings me to another point, Ben. You met Nico earlier, he's a pretty amazing guy. He's saved Percy and my lives a bunch of times, and he was the only reason we got the Athena Parthenos to camp in time to win the war-he's one of the greatest heroes you'll ever meet. And you know something? He's dating Will."

Ben's eyes widened, "Really?"

She nodded, "Yepp. Solangelo has been my OTP for months now. Other than Percabeth, of course," she patted Percy's leg as he opened his mouth to object.

/

Hours later, the only two still awake were Annabeth and Percy, carrying whispered conversation.

"What do you think of Reyna and John? It's too bad they'll only see each other once in a while, since she's at Camp Jupiter and he's here in New York, but I bet it'll work out."

"Wait, what? What will work out?" Percy questioned.

"Reyohn. Didn't you see them making googly eyes at each other? And look," she pointed to the two figures curled up closest to the wall, hands intertwined and cheeks pressed together despite their differentiation in breathing.

"Oh. Well, knowing Reyna, she'll make it work if she wants it," Percy said reassuringly.

"True," Annabeth retorted with a laugh. "But Perce, what Grace said earlier...it means it's possible. Apollo and Demeter? We're on a similar level, power wise, we could do it. Have a normal life here-I could start an architecture company, and you could be a sword fighting instructor at camp, or a marine biologist, or the director of an aquarium," Annabeth whispered, a sparkle in her eyes.

"It's unbelievable...but it sounds so perfect, Wise Girl. I can't wait."


	11. Oh gods, please not the sex talk

"Perce," Annabeth squinted at him, "It's 7 am, and not a school day. What are you doing awake?"

"Wise Girl, Christmas is only three days away! I don't know how anyone could sleep in. Aren't you excited?" His eyes were wide and filled with anticipation.

"Seaweed Brain, Christmas is a Christian holiday-in case you'd forgotten, we're Greek, and would be considered pagans."

"So? I like the idea of a holiday where everyone comes together, and gives each other gifts and just spends time being happy, and thinking about family."

"The concept is great, I just...I don't understand. Why does it mean so much to you?" She asked, trying to comprehend the strong emotions her boyfriend felt for the winter holiday.

"Well..." Percy took a deep breath, almost like he was revisiting a bad memory. "It's always been the one guaranteed good day. No matter if I'm here or at boarding school, I'm home for Christmas. And, when my mom was with Gabe...it was the one day a year he was at least kind of civilized. He wasn't nice, by any standards, but...he would get me a candy cane, and a box of chocolates for my mom, and said that as long as Christmas dinner was made and he had beer, the rest of the daily cleaning and cooking and stuff could wait. And I don't think he ever hit either of us on Christmas."

Annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder. She always seemed to forget he had a rough childhood too; she was so used to him being goofy and happy and there for her, his unhappiness didn't seem possible. The thought of someone hurting a little Percy physically hurt-picturing those sea green eyes she loved blackened, or well with tears in a smaller, less sharply defined face with a few missing teeth was like being stabbed with the poisoned knife all over again. And whenever she thought about what their kids might look like someday, and the same image came to mind, she became murderous.

"Percy...I'm so sorry. I know it wasn't my fault," she added on hastily as he opened his mouth to refute her apology, "but I feel awful that you had to live with a creature that despicable for so many years. You deserve so much better. And if Christmas is that important to you...then we'll have to go all out every year, and make sure it's important for our kids too."

His face lit up, "Really?" After she nodded, he tackle hugged her over the corner of the kitchen table, "I love you, Wise Girl. I really do."

Before they she could respond, a voice interrupted softly. "Oh, am I interrupting a Percabeth moment?"

Annabeth groaned, "Percabeth? Sally, not you too!"

"Me too?" The older woman stood with a hand on her hip. "Honey, I am the original Percabeth shipper. Isn't that right, Percy?"

The son of Poseidon nodded rapidly, "It's true. She's been making everything we do together out to be a date since I first mentioned your name."

"Well, of course I have! Anyone who can keep you in line and alive is someone you need in your life." Annabeth burst into giggles, "I'm sorry, Perce, but truer words have never been spoken."

"Feelin' the love, guys," he muttered. "For the information, you did interrupt a Percabeth moment, Mom. Did you want something?

His mother sat down at the seat adjacent to his before responding, and he sat up a little straighter. "Oh no, what did I do? I swear it was an accident!"

"Calm down, you're not in trouble," she assured him with a laugh. "There's just something rather serious I wanted to talk to you two about."

"Oh gods, please not the sex talk. I will do anything to avoid this," he practically begged.

"Percy! Let me finish, or I will give you the sex talk-I'll even bring in Paul to help me out." The messy-haired demigod mimed catching a bubble, kindergarten style, and leaned forward attentively.

"So, Paul and I have been thinking...you guys know we've been talking about having more kids for a while now, right?" The couple nodded slowly.

"You're pregnant?" Percy blurted questioningly.

"Perseus Jackson, did I or did I not just ask you to let me finish?" He pouted slightly but resumed silence.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, kids. Well, when we got married we knew we wanted at least one or two, and we knew you would be a fantastic older brother, Percy, but what with the first war, and you going missing, and then the second war, we never really got around to it. But we've been talking, and...we've just become so attached to Ben. He's such a sweet boy, and he needs a family to love him and accept him, who also knows about the demigod world and knows how to handle being a half-blood living in the mortal world. So I wanted to see what you two thought about us adopting him."

Percy was speechless, but Annabeth grinned. "I think it's a fantastic idea, Sally. It's the perfect solution-and Ben fits right in. I don't think I'd be able to let him go at this point, I feel as protective of him as I do Bobby and Matthew."

"I'm so glad! Percy, sweetie, what about you? Just because your father's Poseidon doesn't mean you have to gape like a fish all the time."

He scowled, but Annabeth could tell he was holing back a laugh. "I...sorry, I'm just shocked. But I agree with Annabeth, it's a great idea. I-I love Ben, he's such an amazing kid. I would be honored to call him my little brother."

"I can just imagine the fights when he gets older," Leo sighed theatrically from the doorway. "Think about it, two sons of different members of the Big Three under one roof? I already can't wait."

"Leo, they were having a moment!" Hazel's voice scolded from the living room.

"So? I make everything better-come on, Hazel, you're supposed to be on Team Leo!"

"Will he never let that go?" Frank groaned, his words sounding weighed down with sleep.

"You're just jealous because you remember your ransom was worth one-third a Leo," the mechanic yelled, sticking his tongue out.

"Valdez! Your ridiculous shouting woke me up. DO I LOOK LIKE THE KIND OF PERSON WHO LIKES TO BE WOKEN UP AT THIS UNGODLY HOUR?"

"Nico, calm down, why don't you go lie down in the guest room until you wake up properly and I'll make eggs?" Will soothed.

"Let me guess-they'll be sunny-side up," Jason joked.

"Why eggs? We should have some vegetables or enchiladas, or-ooh, I found this great recipe for an all-natural tea that's supposed to be really-"

"Grover, we are NOT having enchiladas or another one of your gross tea experiments for breakfast. End of discussion," Piper declared.

"Well, I guess the whole gang's woken up, then," Annabeth said sarcastically, giving Sally a knowing look. "But where are-"

"SERIOUSLY?! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I JUST WANT A NAP, FOR ZEUS'S SAKE, WHY DO YOU TWO HAVE TO BE SWAPPING SPIT IN HERE? I'M ABOUT TO GO TO MY DAD'S PLACE FOR SOLACE, DO YOU PEOPLE NOT SEE A PROBLEM WITH THE DEAD BEING LESS ANNOYING THAN YOU?!"

"I'm guessing he found Reyna and John," Percy grinned wickedly.

"Nico, I thought you already had all the Solace you need," Leo called, cackling at his own pun.

A sleepy but amused Ben stumbled into the kitchen, the lighting-bolt patterned quilt he had received for his birthday wrapped around his shoulders. "These people are crazy, but I kinda like them."


	12. It's Christmas! But I'm "not your type"

"Annabeth you've gotta wake up, it's Christmas!" She groaned and swatted at the excited voice, growing more annoyed as its owner began umping up and down on her bed. "Come on, Wise Girl! There's presents and food and Mom made a bunch of blue cookies! Wakeupwakeupwakeup!"

"Please, Annabeth? I really want you to open your present from me!" A smaller voice joined the other's tirade, and the sweet pleading won her over. She opened her eyes with a sigh to find Ben sitting on the floor near the head of the bed, and Percy grinning manically, still jumping near her feet.

"Perseus. Stop jumping on my bed or I won't give you your present."

"Pretty sure it's our bed, but fine." He jumped down, then tugged at her hands. "Let's go, everyone's waiting!"

"Hey, uh, Percy?" Frank stuck his head in the door. "Sorry to interrupt if you guys are having a moment or something, but Leo's on fire again and we can't get him to knock it off. John's occupied for the moment, but I'm kind of worried he'll notice when he and Reyna come up for air, do you think you could douse the flames a bit? I asked Jason to make it rain, but he said you're the water guy, so you have to do it."

"Sure thing, I-" Percy was interrupted by a small laugh from Ben, and all three of the older demigods turned to face him. "What's so funny, little man?"

"Well, it's just..." He looked to Frank. "You asked him to make it rain? Seriously?" Annabeth face palmed as Percy cracked up, Frank looking like he wished he were anywhere else.

"Ben, you're the best, this is why I'm so glad you-"

"Frank!" Annabeth cut him off quickly, knowing he was about to mention Ben's adoption-which Sally had requested be a surprise delivered by her. "Didn't you say you needed Percy to come as soon as possible so John doesn't find out?" Percy's eyes widened and he ran out, shooting a thank-you her way.

"You're hiding something from me," Ben deduced with narrowed eyes. "Is it something bad?"

"Of course not!" she reassured him. "Now, didn't you say you wanted me to open my present?"

/

"Okay Ben, you next!" Sally announced with a smile, handing him a box that, while quite wide, was too thin to fit any toy Annabeth could think of. Ben grinned as he demolished the wrapping paper in a matter of seconds, looking confused at the blank box. "Your present is inside the box," Sally explained, and Annabeth noted a trace of anxiety in her face. The older woman seemed worried Ben wouldn't like his gift-which was complete nonsense, as everyone knew Sally Blofis gave the best presents.

Ben lifted the lid slowly, looking shocked by the mass of miniscule writing on the papers within the box. "I love it! I mean, I have no idea what it is, but it's totally fantastic."

Paul laughed, reaching to flip through the papers. "I must have put them in the wrong order, hold on. Here it is!" With a flourish, he placed a thick piece of paper, a certificate of some sort, in Ben's lap. The eleven year old's eyes shot across the paper, his jaw dropping as he looked back to Sally and Paul.

"You-you're adopting me?"

Sally nodded, "Yes, Ben. We've grown to care about you so much since we met you, the thought of sending you somewhere else was something we couldn't handle."

His eyes were still wide. "This is for real?"

"Of course! We'll decorate your room exactly how you want it-Annabeth has offered to help with any design needs you have-and you can stay at your school and everything. You don't have to change your last name to Blofis if you don't want." He still hadn't moved, and she began to feel doubtful. "I mean, if you don't want to stay with us you don't have to, I'm sure we can find you some other arrangements, we just thought-" He had launched himself at her like a rocket, holding her waist her tighter than she had been hugged since Percy returned from the Quest of Seven.

"I want to stay here, thank you so much! I love you, Sally." He looked up, biting his lip. "Are you sure I won't be too much trouble? I mean, sometimes I make storms when I don't mean to, and the monsters..."

She laughed and waved away his concerns. "Honey, I already raised one son of a big three, I can handle another. And after dealing with his involvement in both great prophecies, nothing scares me now."

Ben grinned, then ran to hug Paul. "I can't believe this!"

The teacher ruffled his hair, "It'll be great, bud. Now you can help me beat Percy in Nerf wars!"

"Beat me? You would need an army-wait, sorry, Kronos tried that and I still beat him. Guess you're doomed.

"Oooh, Persassy is my favorite," Piper said over the "OOOOOH" from Jason.

"Yeah, Perce," Leo called, stepping into the room, finally having dried himself off. "You could say it was quite the BURN!" And with the word burn he erupted in flames.

"Not again," Hazel groaned. "Valdez, sometimes I wish Calypso had left you on Ogygia."

"Believe me, Hazel, I do too," the daughter of Atlas in question asserted. "Do you know how quickly he goes through fire-proof clothes? That shouldn't even be possible in the first place, and he still manages to do it every week!"

"Oh my god," John said, eyes wide, and everyone froze, having forgotten he was there.

"He-he just caught on fire! How did-and you said magic? I don't-what the heck is going on?"

Percy sighed, "The one time we could use Pinecone Face. Her snappy mist trick would be so handy right about now."

Annabeth elbowed him, brain working overtime to figure out what to do. "Seaweed Brain, be serious. Hazel can probably do a more thorough and powerful mist trick anyway. But, do you want to just tell him? I mean, he's your best mortal friend."

"Guys, I hate to burst your bubble and all, but the gods are kind of into having secrecy, and I don't think they'd be too pleased with you telling someone," Frank said cautiously.

"Also, you all sound like raving lunatics right about now, and I'm more confused then I have ever been. Just so you know," John inserted.

"I could honestly care less what the gods are and are not pleased with-in case you hadn't noticed, their only job is to sit up in a majestic palace and make sure everyone can continue living, but yet I've had to fight in two wars for their ungrateful selves," Percy said, growing louder as the thunder became more prominent. The building shook with another rumble, and Jason winced as lightning struck just a block away.

"What's wrong, Jason?" Piper asked.

"The lightning, I redirected it...it was headed here. At Percy. It just took a lot of energy out of me."

"Are you kidding me, Zeus?" Percy yelled at the ceiling. "You're gonna try to smite me with lightning YOU WOULDN'T EVEN HAVE IF I HADN'T RESCUED IT FOR YOU? THIS IS WHY LUKE WENT AWOL. CAN YOU JUST TAKE ONE SECOND TO THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH SCHIST I'VE DONE FOR YOU? I DESERVE AMNESTY, ALL OF US DO, AND YOU STILL WANT TO BE HIGH AND MIGHTY EVEN THOUGH YOU WOULD BE CHOPPED UP LIKE GARLIC AND ROTTING AWAY IN TARTARUS RIGHT NOW IF IT WEREN'T FOR US."

The storm slowed just enough to be an everyday weather occurrence, and everyone visibly relaxed-except John, of course.

Annabeth squeezed his hand. "Perce, please calm down, if you yell like that he'll kill you, you know that. You're right, and we're all frustrated with how terribly the gods treat us, but you can't just start screaming at the king of the gods-it's Christmas, he's probably already in a bad mood from hearing all the praises for the Christian God today. Please, Percy."

He let out a breath and nodded, "You're right. I'm sorry. I just...I lost my head."

"Don't worry, man, Medusa totally knows the feeling," Leo joked.

"Leo!" Piper scolded.

"What? Just trying to lighten the mood, Beauty Queen."

"Now's probably not a good time, seeing as that was terrifying and it seems like Percy almost died, but I'm clueless and it would be fantastic if someone could explain what the hell is going on."

"Thanks for not saying what the Hades, it gets really annoying," Nico spoke, causing everyone to jump.

"Nico! You know I hate it when you shadow travel and sneak up on me!" Hazel reprimanded him. "Where's Will?"

The son of Hades rolled his eyes, "Oh, he had to take care of some Demeter girl who decided to tussle with Clarisse. He'll IM me when he's ready and I'll hop over and bring him back."

"Again, confused over here. Shadow travel? Demeter girl?"

"Reyna, would you care to do the honors?" Percy gestured to her.

"Oh no, Percy, this one's on you. He's your friend. Praetor's orders."

"Seeing as I'm a former praetor, who was honorably discharged, I don't think your orders have an effect on me. Besides, you've been sucking face with him all morning! He's all yours."

Reyna rolled her eyes, "Praetor status aside, we only met recently, you've been friends for a few years."

"And the rest of us have had to watch you and Annabeth suck face for years, so this is your penance," Nico said.

Percy crossed his arms, "I don't see how it bothered you that much if I'm 'not your type'."

The demigods groaned. "Percy, come on, get over it," Frank said. "You're not my type either, can you just explain everything to John?"

"I like that guy," John nodded at Frank. "He knows what he's talking about."

"Pretty sure he doesn't if I'm not his type."

"Percy. Shut up," Piper ordered, her voice laced with charmspeak, and he did so instantaneously.

"Anyway, my new friend John, what Percy was too rejected to tell you is that the Greek gods and monsters are real, and we're all demigods. I'm a son of Hephaestus, if you couldn't tell." And once again, Leo was shrouded in fire.

"Way to be sensitive, Supreme McShizzle," Annabeth muttered. "But John, Percy's a son of Poseidon. Care to demonstrate, Perce?"

The kitchen faucet turned rapidly, and water surrounded Leo, leaving him to once again stomp away to dry off. The water remained, hovering in the air.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth questioned, turning to Percy with a confused expression. The water began to separate, spinning and contorting into eleven different blobs beginning to form letters.

An N appeared in the first blob.

"Neptune? Nemesis? Nymphs? Nankeen?" Frank guessed wildly.

"What in Hades is Nankeen?" Piper asked.

"A Chinese cloth thing."

An O was now next to the N.

"Noodles?"

All the letters abruptly spun into place, spelling out NOT YOUR TYPE.

/

"Merry Christmas, Wise Girl." It was almost midnight, and Percy and Annabeth were tangled up in bed, the rest of the demigods having returned to their various homes and camps.

"Merry Christmas, Seaweed Brain. I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too. More than life." He pecked her on the cheek, and she laughed. "I kind of figured that out when you opted to jump into Tatarus with me. But it looks like you get to keep loving both."

"Well if I didn't I would have to write a strongly worded letter, wouldn't I?"

"Of course. I would proofread."

"Thank the gods, otherwise it would get me nowhere."

They lay in silence for a few moments, each contemplating the day's events.

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah, Perce?"

"There's..there's one more present I have for you." He flicked on the light and got up, bringing something small from the bottom drawer of his dresser. Sitting back on the bed, she held her hands out as he placed the small box in them. She opened the box with a gasp-an emerald was set in the silver band of a ring, their eye colors together. Lifting the ring from its position, she found an engraving along the outside of the band: As long as we're together.

"Oh my gods," she breathed. "Percy, this is beautiful."

His nervous face turned upward into a smile. "I'm glad you like it. It's a promise ring. I, um, I know we're young, and you wouldn't want to get engaged and married while we're still in high school, but I...okay, I know we're going to get married one day. I'm pretty sure we both know that; after everything, I don't know how I could ever be with anyone else. And I love you so much, and I want to make sure you know that I intend to marry you one day, to love you till the day I die-even after that, when we're living it up in Elysium. That Tartarus was just the beginning for us."

"Percy, you..gods, Percy, I love you. This is the perfect gift. And the inscription, what you said when we fell...it's what gets me through the day. Having that with me...gods, Seaweed Brain. Of course we're getting married some day. I would kill anyone who got in our way."

Leaning forward, she kissed him like his lips were more important than breathing, knowing this love was one in a million.


	13. The-trapped-on-an-island-thing-and-all

"Perce, you have to get up."

"Go away. I'm sleeping forever."

"As someone who's put a lot of work into making sure exactly that doesn't happen, I would be highly offended if you chose to do so. So would the scar where I took a poisoned knife for you."

"Annabeeeeth, I totally appreciate the whole self-sacrificing knife thing. It was great of you; also kind of creepy in the sensing-my-Achilles-heel thing. But after I opted to go with you to Tartarus, I don't really think you can hold it over me much more."

"Fine, I'll make sure to arrange an assassination attempt and save your sorry demigod butt again so we can be back on my terms."

"I don't think you'll have to arrange one," Paul said, sticking his head in the doorway. "I'm pretty sure there's a drakon outside. Also, Percy, your mother made blue pancakes, but she said if you don't get in there in the next minute she'll send your share to school with Ben for lunch."

Without further adieu, the bed was empty, and Paul and Annabeth were left smirking at the droopy-eyed teenager sprinting to the kitchen in Aquaman boxers. "I just need to start carrying food on me for bribery," she muttered jokingly, making her way toward the scent of breakfast wafting through the halls.

"Morning, Ben," she called, muffin in hand.

"Morning, Annabeth. Hey, guess what?" His face lit up as he prepared to share his news.

"What?"

"Tonight's the Jeopardy winter premiere!" The daughter of Athena and son of Zeus cheered heartily as a groan emanated from Percy.

/

"Annabeth, do we have to go back to school? Can't we just say you're home schooling me? Or go to camp? Or say we're doing a semester abroad and go to Camp Jupiter? Or say we were eaten by monsters? Or that we went crazy and ran away? I think that one has some promise, after that manhunt a few years back people would believe it and totally steer clear, and-"

"Percy," she cut off his babbling as they pulled into the school parking lot. "I enjoyed the three day weekend just as much as you did, but education is one of the most important factors of a well-functioning society. And if we were to go away for one of those reasons, you wouldn't be able to be with your mom, and she's suffered without you for long enough. This is our last semester, Seaweed Brain. If we can make it back from hell, we can make it to the end of the year."

"You might have made it back from hell, but I made it back from the dead, which I think is much more impressive," a voice called from up ahead.

"Oh, can it, Valdez," Percy said with a snort. "What are you doing here, man?"

"Well, it turns out Calypso's never been to school-the patriarchy and the trapped-on-an-island thing and all. So, at her insistence, we're here for the semester. Do they have good food? Tamales, maybe?"

"The food is top quality, you'll totally love it. Nothing lives up to camp food, of course, but...burgers. Burgers, fries, chips, soda...the works."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "So did you two enroll as juniors?"

Calypso nodded, a smile wide on her face. "Yeah. We have Algebra 2, Honors World History, Chemistry, English 3 Honors, PE, and then our electives-I took art and he took woodshop. Cheater."

"We have fifth period PE too! Who's ready to take down some mortals?"

"Percy!" She swatted him softly. "There are people that can hear you, you know."

He grinned, "So? If they know I'm crazy right off the bat, I don't have to deal with their surprise and confusion when they figure it out."

"You, sir, are my idol," Leo complimented him with a fist bump.

/

"Hey Ben, how was your break?" Dean asked as the son of Zeus sat down next to him.

"Pretty good. Thanks again for coming to my party. I loved the book you got me!" Ben replied with a blush. He has such pretty eyes...and he's so cool to be around.

"That's good, I was so worried it would be boring! And I had a great time, the Blofises seem super cool. How long are you staying with them?"

"Actually...forever. They adopted me for Christmas-now I'm Ben Blofis," he announced proudly, not having told anyone yet.

"That's so awesome, Ben! That means we can hangout all the time! We can go to the same middle school and high school and everything. And we've got to have a play date again soon-you want to sleepover at my house next weekend?"

Ben's eyes widened, "I-yeah, that sounds great, I'll ask Sally." Oh my gods, a play date with my crush. Is this real?

"Cool beans," Dean said, a playful grin on his face as only an eleven year old can manage.

/

"Hey Sally, is it okay if I spend the night at Dean's house next weekend?" Ben plucked up the courage to ask over dinner that night.

She looked up at him, eyes sparkling. "Of course, I'm so glad you're becoming such good friends. But no funny business, okay? You're much too young for that."

"W-what are you insinuating?" He asked, attempting to maintain his dignity as he turned beet red.

"Hon, I might be older than you, but I'm a perceptive woman. No kissing till you're thirteen, deal?"

Looking anywhere but the table he nodded compliantly, Percy ruffling his hair.

"My little brother has his first sleepover!" he crooned. "They grow up too fast."

Sally, Paul, and Annabeth laughed briefly, but Ben looked up at him with wide eyes. "I-you think of me as your brother?"

Percy smiled kindly, "'Course I do, kiddo. In adopting you, I have laid my claim. Jason might get biological bragging rights, but you and me? We're the men of the house. Whatever happens for the rest of our lives, we're gonna stick together. Us against the world." He squirmed at the poke in his side. "And Annabeth, of course. And P double J, whenever he gets here years in the future."

"P double J?" Paul asked, looking amused.

"Percy Jackson Junior. He'll be the ultimate demigod-intelligence and water control? He'll be unstoppable." Everyone around the table laughed, but Annabeth's eyes smoldered at the thought of their child-a mini Percy.

"But he'll have his Uncle Ben to reign him in if he gets a little crazy, of course. And maybe an Uncle Dean..." she trailed off, erupting into giggles at the sight of Ben's mortified but glowing face.


	14. Valentine's Day--Percabeth Style

"Wise Girl, wake up." Annabeth groaned and rolled over.

"Percy, it's the weekend, why on earth are you making me get up at this ungodly hour?" Peeking an eye open, she glared at the clock. "Seriously, Seaweed Brain? 7 AM? You always complain when we have to get up this early at camp."

"You don't know what day it is, do you?" Her eyes shot open at the thought of Percy figuring something out before her, and she mentally face palmed seeing the flowers before her, a smirking Seaweed Brain holding a chocolate kiss in his left palm.

"Schist!"

"Aw, don't tell me you forgot," he goaded her with a grin.

"I didn't, I was supposed to get up earlier and-why didn't my alarm go off?" Percy at least had the decency to look guilty, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Perseus Jackson, did you turn my alarm off?"

"Annabeth-"

"Did you?"

"Maybe just a little. But I had to wake up first!" He exclaimed, eyes pleading. "I missed last Valentine's cause of Hera, I had to make this one spectacular."

She smiled, "Big word, Perce. I guess I can let this one slide-as long as you do manage to make it spectacular. What exactly do you have planned that we had to wake up so early anyhow?"

"It's a surprise. I'll tell you one thing: there will be donuts involved."

"Ooh donuts, Blackjack would be so jealous. That's all you're gonna give me? How am I supposed to know what to bring, or how to dress?"

"Like you actually care about any of that, you'll just bring your knife, phone, wallet, and snacks to keep me quiet." She laughed at the truth of his statement, and he continued, "Just wear a t shirt and jeans and meet me at the car."

/

"No way! Perce, how did you find this place?"

He grinned, "Once I had the idea I did some digging, found the best place nearby. We have the whole place to ourselves for three hours."

"How are you paying for it? This has to be crazy expensive."

The son of Poseidon blushed, "It is. I, uh, I called in a favor with Aphrodite-'Anything for true love!' and all," he quoted in a trilling voice.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jackson?" A worker asked, approaching them as they neared the entrance. Percy's face became scarlet, but he nodded as Annabeth pressed a hand to her mouth to suppress a giggle.  
"My name is Randall Evans, I'm the presiding manager here. Please, if there's anything any of us can do to assist you at any time, don't hesitate to ask. Our only rules here at Go Go Go Cart are that your seat belt remains buckled at all times, you don't purposefully ram into each other, and you don't purposefully ram into the rails. Enjoy yourselves, and have a Happy Valentine's Day. Your carts await."

"You ready to lose, Jackson?" Annabeth asked with a smirk, pulling up to the starting line.

"You wish, Chase. You're going down."

"Oh, you mean like how you do every time we play capture the flag?"

His jaw dropped in mock offense, "It is so on."

"GO!" Randall announced, and they were off, zooming around the track without hesitation.

"Feel that, Chase?" Percy called, turning his head as he passed her, zipping around a curve. "That's my tailwind."

"Honey, being in front of me in the first lap doesn't mean you'll win. I'm sure you'll have that figured out when I've lapped you five times," she retorted, planning out where best to pass him based on the trajectory of the track.

/

"So, babe, what did we learn today?"

Percy gave a sigh, "My girlfriend is the smartest person in the whole world and will always dominate at every challenge ever."

"Very good," she commended, giving him a peck on the cheek. "So, what's next?"

"What makes you assume there's something else?" He asked with wide eyes.

"Give it a break, Seaweed Brain, there's no way you would make an appointment at eight in the morning if you were planning on just going home after, not even for go carting. We both know Aphrodite could've booked a night shift-you wanted a morning slot. Not to mention your appetite; it's lunchtime and you haven't had a snack, you're planning something with food."

"Dam it, Wise Girl, you get me every time," he groaned with a wink. "Okay, yeah, we're getting food."

/

"Italian?"

"It's not because- listen, I have a speech prepared about why we're at an Italian restaurant-we're getting pizza by the way. I mean, you don't have to, but I am, and the point of us coming here was to get precisely that so...yeah." He trailed off aimlessly, scratching the back of his head.

"Okay, I'm all ears, let's have that speech." Annabeth gave him an encouraging smile and squeezed his hand.

"So, did you notice what kind of flowers I gave you this morning?"

She bit her lip, "Not particularly, I put them in a vase but I was in a hurry to see the surprise so I just cataloged them in passing; they were kind of unusual looking, light pink, with a darker pinkish violet in the center, but that's about all I remember."

"They were almond flowers, and before you say 'Percy, why on earth would you give me the flowers of a tree from which you get almonds?', I'll come back to that.  
As you remember, I'm sure, the last time we were together before Tartarus was when we got lunch near the Tiber River."

"Pizza," she breathed, eyes alight in understanding. "We ate that really bland pizza.

"Correct," he beamed. "We had super duper gross, disappointing pizza from the waiter who that we were weirdo Americans eating in the middle of the day and drinking Coke with ice. Anyway, Italian pizza being subpar aside, I was terrified that I was going to lose you. I had just gotten you back, and the worst part is that you're not my girlfriend."

She raised her eyebrows and he grimaced, backtracking, "That came out totally wrong. I didn't mean it that way. I meant-it's not that you're my girlfriend, and 'oh no, I haven't made out with her in months, everything is wrong', you know? I do love the making out," he hurried to assure her. "It's one of my favorite things to do, and we should spend more time doing it. But...gods, I'm so bad at this."

She laughed, "Percy, it's sweet, you're fine, just keep going."

"What I mean is that I love you on a level beyond as being my girlfriend, like we were best friends for four years first, and I will love you in that way, as my best friend, just as much as I love you as my girlfriend. So while I missed the making out, it was more 'oh no, I need my best friend with me because things just aren't right when we're not together and I need her here, watching my back while I watch hers'. So the thought of just having you back, my girlfriend AND my best friend, who I love more than anyone partially BECAUSE I love you both ways, and sending you to your doom was one of the worst things I've ever faced-and remember, I've battled a whole bunch of titans."

Annabeth giggled, but she knew her eyes were watering.

"And then, you had beaten Arachne and found this statue that no one in history could ever find, and I was thinking to myself that's my girl, and I was so unbelievably relieved to have you back-and then you fell. And you told me to let go of you, and I changed my mind: THAT was the scariest thing I've ever faced, letting you fall into the deepest pit in hell all alone. There was no way.

"So I did the only thing I could really do, and I went with you. And you continued to amaze me; you made your way through Tartarus with a broken ankle, you figured out that the pen I'd had for five years could actually write, and you SENT A MESSAGE TO CAMP FROM THE BOTTOM OF HELL. I had been so worried that being there would suck away our humanity, but gods, Annabeth, I just kept falling more in love with you-also falling literally."

Eyes shining, she shook her head at the terrible pun. "Seaweed Brain, you can't make awful jokes while being sentimental, my emotions can't keep up."

"Don't worry, I'm almost done," he assured her. "Back to the flowers: I'm not sure if you know this, but I did some research, and almond flowers have an origin in Greek Mythology. One of Theseus's sons, Demophon, some Herc-the-jerk type, hooked up with this Thracian princess. They were supposed to get married, but he claimed to miss home and went on a 'trip' to Athens, and he was supposed to come home their wedding day. Long story short, the guy was just like his father and didn't show, and the princess, Phyllis, was heartbroken for years until she died from being so upset, at which point the gods turned her into a tree-like someone else we know. But anyway, her tree was an almond tree, and it kind of became a symbol of hope-her hope that he would come back for her. Eventually, he realized what an idiot he was and returned, and he hugged the tree, knowing it was her and feeling so sorry. All of a sudden, these pink flowers bloom all over the tree, and they proved that there was a love death could not conquer. I brought is to this American-Italian restaurant because it reminds me of all that, of the love and being scared and every emotion I felt that day-also because we need to eat quality pizza.

"The way I see it, that's us; I mean, we didn't die, surprisingly, but going to Tartarus kind of counts as death, right? That's the second time we've gone to the land of death together, and only came out stronger-not physically, but our relationship, you know? And when you add in the whole holding-up-the-sky thing...I know, even if I died, I would still love you. And it's crazy that we started out thinking we could never even be friends because it was forbidden, and your mother still hates me, but we love each other anyway, and that's what Valentine's Day is all about: breaking the rules, because there are no rules when it comes to love, that's why Valentine married all those people illegally way back when. There's no one I'd rather spend today with, even if it's a 'manufactured holiday generated by candy companies to create revenue by playing on people's pathos'."

"Perce, you remembered my exact wording? I was just going off on a rant, I thought you weren't paying attention," she said quietly, wiping her eyes.

"I always pay attention to things that are important to you, even when they're super boring and I have no idea what the words you use mean; do you know how much you've said that I could recite about 'the columns not being tapered enough' and 'the architrave being sooooo beautiful'?"

"That...all of that was just, the most amazing thing I've ever heard, Seaweed Brain. Gods, Percy...nobody's perfect, but you're sure perfect for me." Leaning across the console, she kissed him softly. "By the way, I'm big on the making out too," she whispered against his lips.

"In that case, lunch can wait a few minutes," he replied hastily.

/

"Okay, last thing," Percy promised, pulling Annabeth out onto the balcony beneath the night sky, the two having spent a few hours making out on the couch under the premise of watching mushy movies after returning from lunch to babysit Ben while Sally and Paul went out to dinner.

"Hey, Percy, you guys ready to go?" Nico and Will materialized from the shadows instantaneously, looking to be in a good mood.

"Wait, Nico? Will? I'm confused."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning a three-person-date or anything; obviously, since I'm not his type, but whatever. Nico's giving us a lift, and Will offered to watch Ben."

"Yepp. Have fun you guys, I'll see you...later." Will waggled his eyebrows suggestively, then went inside.

"Where are we going?" she wondered aloud, but Percy mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key, and Nico shrugged apologetically.

/

As soon as they had landed, Percy let out a short laugh, and Annabeth and Nico looked to him uncomprehending.

"Those are some bad bruises on your neck, there, Nico. How'd you manage it?" Annabeth burst into muffled laughter as Nico blushed and turned up his collar to cover the dark hickeys, waving as he disappeared again, leaving them alone on the rocky terrain.

"Do you know where we are?" Percy said, eyes smoldering.

"It looks so familiar but I can't quite put my finger...oh my gods."

He grinned, "Yeah?"

"We're-we're at Mount Saint Helens?"

With a delighted nod, he pulled her close. "Where we had our first kiss."

"I don't know if it counts as our first kiss; I kissed you, and you just stood there in shock," she teased, her lips dangerously close to his.

"I've definitely made up for it since, though, wouldn't you agree?"

Her eyes fluttered closed, and she nodded, heartbeat in her ears. "Mhm. This is perfect, Percy. I never knew you to be so reminiscent."

"Well, I've never had such good things to reminisce over."


	15. Thalia's Truth

Percy stretched, sighing contentedly as he woke up. It was strange, he thought, he never woke up feeling this well rested on a school day. Seven a.m. had never felt so good - yeah, he was definitely lucky to have a school that didn't start till eight fifteen. Gods know he was not a happy camper when woken early - literally, he told Dionysus off for making Chiron wake them up at six once. He was unsuccessful, as one might guess, but he managed to avoid being turned into a dolphin (again) so it was a win in his book. He reached out for Annabeth's warmth, but found nothing but rumpled sheets on her side of the bed - strange. If she had had a nightmare, she would have woken him up, and even if she had wanted to go to school early she would've needed him to give her a ride.

He propped himself up on his elbows, looking around the room to see if Annabeth had left any clues as to where she had gone. Her knife was still on the bedside table, so she hadn't gone anywhere; at least, not voluntarily. But if she had been in trouble she would've shouted, made some kind of noise to alert Percy so he could help her defeat whatever monster had come after her -and what sane monster (or god, he had no clue what he was dealing with) would take her but leave him? The son of Poseidon, ex-praetor, co-leader of Camp Half-Blood, leader of the defending demigod army of Manhattan...he was equally as valuable as Annabeth, and lying right next to her. Why not just grab them both?

"Percy!" Ben appeared in the doorway, looking scandalized. "We're late!" A look to the clock confirmed the statement, further confusing Percy, who immediately got out of bed, grabbing Riptide and uncapping it swiftly as he left the room, Ben trailing behind him. Annabeth did NOT skip school. Something was very wrong.

"Annabeth? Wise Girl? Mom? Paul?" He peeked his head in his parents' room to find it empty, Paul's keys missing from the bowl on the nightstand. Did he take Annabeth to school? But why wouldn't they wake Percy...and Ben, who was every bit as obsessed with school as Annabeth. "Mom? Is anybody home?"

"In here, Percy," his mother's voice, quiet and slightly somber, sounded from the kitchen.

"Mom? Is everything alright? Have you seen-" his voice came to a pause as he entered the room. "Annabeth." The daughter of Athena was seated at the table, still in a tank top and sweats, a cup of tea in one hand and eyes rimmed with red.

"Hey, Perce. Sorry for not waking you, I figured you wouldn't mind missing a little school." She took a deep breath, the arm not occupied with the mug rubbing the back of the figure next to her, whom he hadn't noticed until that moment.

"Thalia?" The hunter gave a small grunt, not raising her eyes from the table. Percy had never seen her so emotionally overwhelmed; what majority of her short hair could be wrangled into a ponytail was tied up and out of her face, and she sat with her knees to her chest in an oversized hoodie, dried tears along her cheeks.

"You'd better not tell anyone about this, Kelp Head." Her voice was more subdued than normal, cracking in all the wrong places and filled with the emotion she never allowed anyone to see.

"No worries, Pinecone Face, I'm a nicer guy than that. But what's wrong? You two look like you've had a Nicholas Sparks marathon."

"Perseus Jackson, how dare you be so insensitive!" Sally chastised him. "These girls are having an emotional discussion and you just barge in and insult them?"

"Don't worry about it, Sally, we've come to expect his bluntness. Honestly I'm more surprised that he knows about Nicholas Sparks," Thalia commented.

"My mother taught me well. Seriously, though? What's going on? Or is it girl stuff?"

"It's not girl stuff, but...promise you won't start getting all upset or jealous or beating yourself up?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm just gonna go now before everything gets super awkward for me...Sally would you mind taking me to school?" Ben asked, eyes wide.

"Of course not, honey. You three be good - Annabeth, if they start using the elements to destroy the house put them in separate rooms."

"Why does she get to be in charge?" Percy whined.

"Because I'm emotionally compromised and Ben is more mature than you," Thalia asserted. "Can it."

The three sat in silence until Sally and Ben had left, the quiet of the house weighing down on them.

"So," Percy started.

"So," Annabeth agreed.

"So weird, that's what you two are," Thalia muttered. "Anyway, you asked why I was here. I, um, I had just gone to Connecticut - well I left on Ben's birthday, but once I got there I couldn't leave. It was worse...so much worse." She shuddered.

"Connecticut...why does that sound so familiar?" Percy wondered aloud. "I swear I...oh." His eyes closed in understanding. "May."

"Wait, Percy, you know about her?" Annabeth looked shocked.

"Yeah. I...before I bathed in the Styx, we had to make sure we hadn't missed a step, so Nico and I went to visit her. But, Thals...what were you doing there?"

"I've been visiting her since...since Luke died. She's just...she needs someone, you know? And my mom was crazy, but she's gone, so I figured it made sense. I cared about Luke a lot. I-I loved him. We...it was never official, and I don't think it would ever have happened had we been under normal circumstances, but when we were on the run, we were kind of together. We tried to keep it from Annabeth, we figured she had enough on her plate and we didn't want to make her feel like a third wheel. But I...it's been really hard since he died, especially as a hunter. And I knew it would be worse for May, so I just keep tabs on her and visit every few months.

"This time was different, though. She...I think her mind is clearing up a bit. She was awake enough to know that he's really gone...she's stopped making the cookies."

So simple a sentence, but enough for reality to come crashing down. She's stopped making the cookies. Those cookies were the only thing she could do, they were her love for her son objectified. If she'd stopped...what was the state of her life?

"I couldn't just leave her like that," Thalia continued, eyes welling up again. "She needed someone. So I stayed...and it just hurts so bad. Someone so good as Luke, who was willing to take in a seven year old without batting an eye while I was doubtful of whether or not we'd be able to take care of her, went so dark...because we just never receive the love we deserve, you know? I mean, you and Annabeth have saved the world how many times, and you still almost never see the gods. Luke...he just wanted that love. And he went about it the wrong way, gods know I hate him for it, but in the end he made the right choice...one of the hardest choices. Even possessed by the most evil titan, having his mind corrupted for months...he did the right thing. And no one remembers him for it except us."

Percy grimaced, "I know, Thals. It's terrible. Hades, I think about it almost every day. Him and Silena both...even Piper was told nothing but bad things. I can't imagine how much worse it is for you...both of you. I know you knew him longest, Annabeth, what with Pinecone Face becoming a tree and all, and that must make it hard to live without him. But that's exactly why we have to keep on going, to make those differences that he was willing to die for. And look at what we've done, there are more cabins, gods are claiming their children, and with all the stuff's Jason's accomplished since the war...it's getting better."

"Seaweed Brain is right," Annabeth said. "We've been sitting around crying all morning, but the truth is, Luke's sacrifice made a difference."

"I thought I might find you here," called a voice at the doorway.

"Reyna? What on earth are you doing here?" Thalia asked.

"Well I was in the neighborhood talking to Chiron, and I was having coffee with a friend -"

"If by 'having coffee' you mean swapping spit with John, then okay," Percy mumbled, hushing when she quelled his words with a glare.

"I am perfectly at liberty to do whatever I want with whomever I please. Anywho, Sally and Ben popped in and he said you were all being weird and emotional and Percy was probably making a nuisance of himself and that I should come over and convince you all to get it together."

"I resent that! I think I was being quite motivational."

"You actually were," Annaeth admitted. "I'm so proud."

"Whatever. How's about instead of sitting around reminiscing and making ourselves miserable, we go out for ice cream like the heroes of Olympus that we are," Reyna suggested confidently.

"Ice cream, I'm in!" Thalia announced, looking much more chipper.

"Same! I'll get the blue food dye," Percy called, running to the doorway.

"Sugar is literally all it takes to make demigods do a full one eighty," Annabeth said, shaking her head as Reyna nodded in agreement. "So, how are you and John?"

"John? Wait, you're actually dating someone?" With Reyna's confirmation, Thalia wailed in mock despair, "No! I thought there was hope for you yet. Whatever, at lest I still have Phoebe."


	16. Jason is Ridiculously Perfect

"Holy Hephaestus, there's so much schist to do next year."

"Perseus that was quite a few near misses on the language. If I hear your brother start spewing profanities you'll be grounded 'till the day he graduates." Sally looked at him reproachfully as she set a plate of blue banana bread before him.

"Sorry, Mom," he said with a sheepish grin. "I had just gone to talk to the guidance counselor this morning and I'm really overwhelmed."

She slid into the chair next to him, placing her hand atop his. "Any particular reason why you'd do this right when Annabeth is out of town?"

"That obvious?" his voice strained.

"Percy, honey, you're a smart boy, but I've had seventeen years of practice detecting when you're trying to hide things. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Almost eighteen years," he reminded her. "I guess. I normally talk to Annabeth, and obviously that's out, and Grover and Thals and Reyna and the seven wouldn't really understand, they'd probably brush it off. But honestly, I'm really worried, Mom. Annabeth and I want to go to college in New Rome, but I don't know that I can make the grades, and in all these pamphlets it says I need a really good score on my SAT and ACT-I can barely remember those acronyms, let alone the actual stuff I need to know to pass them. No one else is worried about it because y'know, I'm the Savior of Olympus twice over, and after defeating Kronos high school just be nothing, right?" He put his head in his hands and took a deep breath. "I barely passed my Algebra I final, how am I supposed to do an exam that tests all of the things you've learned in the entirety of high school-which I was injured, missing, or in the middle of a war for almost all of."

"I know, sweetie. I've been worrying about it too. But you know what? I watched you work yourself so hard this semester to catch up, studying all the time and asking Annabeth and Grace and John for help when you didn't understand. You decided that you were going to learn what you missed and worked to make it happen. I believe in you. And you know who made me relax?"

"Who?" he asked begrudgingly, seeing the look on her face that meant she was about to prove him wrong.

"Annabeth. She heard me talking to Paul about your test anxiety and how I wasn't sure how you would fare with those tests next year, and she shook her head, and she said to me, 'Sally, he may be a Seaweed Brain, but he has more motivation than anyone I've ever known. I'm not saying it won't be hard, but he can do this, and he will do this, and we're going to help him.'"

"I don't want to disappoint any of you-you, Annabeth, Paul, Chiron-and I really don't want to mess up now that I have Ben looking up to me. I have to be a good role model to him, right? I can't let him down."

"Percy. You're the greatest demigod since Theseus. You love your friends so much that Athena herself worried that you would save them before you would save the world. You do your best in school and you're the most encouraging human being possible. You won't let him down-and even if something goes wrong with school, there's more to a person than their grades."

"You're right," he admitted.

"When am I not? And here, I have one more thing to be right about. You said none of your friends would understand?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you should call Piper." She gave him one of her knowing looks. "Annabeth and Jason are a lot alike."

"Sup, Perce?" Percy's valdez-ified phone emitted a few seconds after he'd clicked dial on the number under 'Pied Piper'.

"Okay, so, I've been freaking out a lot because Annabeth is smarter and so much more high achieving than me and like not that I resent that or anything but I don't think I'll get into college and I don't want to ruin our plans together because I'm not as good at school and my mom thought you might understand because Jason is also ridiculously perfect." His voice was rushed, awkward, and nervous, and it took her a second to process what he'd said.

"So you're asking if I feel the same way with Jason sometimes?"

"Er, yes. I mean, not that I think you're not smart and talented too, but like he's-"

"The son of Jupiter, former Praetor, high priest to the Olympian gods, slayer of Krios, blonde haired, blue eyed, and makes superintendent's list?" she supplied. "Now that you mention it, the thought may have crossed my mind once or twice. We've been talking a lot about how going into our junior year we'll really have to start thinking about the future, and I'm pretty sure he wants to apply to Stanford. He's spent so much time at Camp Jupiter that I think he wants to spend some time really focusing on academics for a little while, since he's never had a life or a real educational experience. There's no way I'd get in-I don't even know if I can swing USC. So yeah, I get where you're coming from. It's the risk we take in dating such perfect geniuses."

He let out a laugh. "That's true. If only we'd decided on more mediocre people."

"If only," she agreed. "Really, Perce, I get where you're coming from. But I think you have a good chance-we've done so many things we would never have believed since we started dating them, right? And worst comes to worst, you modify the plan a little, but honestly as long as you've done your best who cares? All of us have different scales-maybe your 100% is Annabeth's 20%, but it only matters that it's your 100."

"Thanks, Piper. I think that helps."

"Glad you sound so certain," she snorted. "I hope it does, though. And if you want we could start studying together? It might hep since we're both in the same position. Hazel could probably use the help too-everything she learned has been thrown away five times over since the last time she was in school, and while Frank is totally patient enough to teach her all of it I think she likes figuring it out on her own sometimes."

"So a demigod study group. I like it. We should invite Nico and Travis too, I know Travis has been struggling, and I just like hanging out with Nico now that he's more up to it."

"Sounds good," he could hear the excitement in her voice. "I'll make a group chat so we can figure out the details that'll work for everyone."

"Awesome. I think I promised Ben I'd take him to camp today so I've gotta go, but thanks for everything. We'll definitely make the study group work."

"Anytime. You've got this, Percy. Tell Ben I love him!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, everyone loves Ben, he knows," he rolled his eyes despite the grin on his face. "Bye, Piper."

"Bye. Totally telling Jason you said he was ridiculously perfect-the bromance lives on!"

He shook his head as he hung up, then headed back to the now empty kitchen calmly, beginning to highlight the minimum scores and tip websites. "I've got this."


	17. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly!"

"Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!"

"Tis the season to be jolly!"

"Fa-la-"

"How long have they been at this?" Piper asked Annabeth conspiratorially over the textbook between them. True to their word, she and Percy had began studying together, but this week she had nine week exams (a little past nine weeks into the year), so she had gotten Nico to shadow travel her into the living room with enough things to practically move in for the weekend for Annabeth to help her review nine weeks' worth of material.

"Today? About three hours." Annabeth's tone was dry and a smirk worked its way onto her face. "Glorious, isn't it?"

"But Halloween was only a week ago!"

Percy's face was suddenly inches from Piper's. "Exactly, Piper dearest! And with Halloween's passing, it became socially acceptable to celebrate Christmas. Hit it, Ben!"

The younger boy began to belt out Rudolph before his brother joined him, and Annabeth and Piper couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

"Christmas may or may not be his favorite holiday," the blonde conceded. "I'm going to need you and the rest of the gang to visit a lot more often if I'm going to make it through the holiday season this year; Ben may have been here last time around, but he was nowhere near this boisterous, and the two of them together will work wonders for my insanity."

"Come to Cali over Thanksgiving break, we can send them to the huge festivals and you and I can hang out with Frank and Reyna since they have to stay home. And we can bring John and Grace, Reyna will be thrilled!" Piper gave a dazzling smile, the tiny bit of Aphrodite romantic nature seeping out as she hoped to aid her friend's happiness.

"That's true. Where are Hazel, Will, and Nico in all of this?"

"With the boys at the festivals, of course! Hazel adores the holidays. And Will likes any excuse to flaunt Nico in public."

"This sounds better and better with every passing minute. We'll have to bring Sally and Paul, of course, after the last couple years I can't blame them for wanting to be with Percy on every special occasion, let alone Ben with how recently he was adopted...although then we could do a joint dinner at my dad's place..." she mused.

"Brilliant!" Piper exclaimed. "Speaking of brilliance, can you help me understand why, exactly, I need to know oxidation-reduction reactions when I'm going to be a linguistics major in college?"

"Really?" Annabeth asked curiously. "You haven't told me that before."

Piper blushed, biting her lip a bit nervously. "I haven't told anyone, actually, that kind of just slipped out. I especially didn't want to mention it to Jason, because talking to him about college is so stressful for both of us, even though he's perfect and has nothing to worry about, and I mean obviously I have two years before I even get there and four years before I even need to know my major and it's more than likely to change, but I-"

"Piper," Annabeth interrupted firmly. "What made you think you might want to major in linguistics?"

"Well," her eyes glazed over, "It kind of started because of charmspeak, like once I realized I had that power I started wondering a lot more about language, and how charmspeak would work in different languages, and how things change from English to French-and then since i've been at the two camps a lot I've been kind of trying to understand the differences in the structures and evolutions of those two and the Greek and Latin that I've been picking up, and stuff, and it just...I don't know, Annabeth, something about it just makes my brain tingle and it's just so exciting to learn about, it just feels right. Does that sound completely ridiculous?"

Piper nervously looked to her for her thoughts.

"Not at all. That's...that's exactly what it's supposed to feel like, you know? At least, that's what I think anyway, your mind on fire to understand more of something. That's how I feel when I think about architecture. And I don't think it's ridiculous because you have it picked four years ahead of time, I've wanted to be an architect since I was a kid. Ask Grover, or Thalia for that matter."

A knock sounded on the door, and rolling her eyes at the performing boys' irreverence, Annabeth stood and made her way to the front door, swinging it open to find John, a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Hey, Annabeth. I'm sorry, I know this is really last minute and a lot to ask, but do you think Sally and Paul would care if I crashed here for a few days? My dad and I got in this huge fight and I just really don't think I can be at home right now." His voice was even, but his eyes were downcast, and Annabeth's heart bled for him. Piper breathed out a sigh behind her, and she knew the two of them understood well exactly where John was coming from-and of course, Sally of all people would never turn away someone who needed a place to stay.

"I"m sure they'd love to have you. Come on in, you can join the decorating party." He followed them through the familiar hallway to the now heavily adorned living room, tinsel and lights and every decoration imaginable covering almost every surface.

Piper snickered. "Percy, I think you forgot the tree."

His head snaked around the corner, his tongue sticking out briefly. "Nice try, pied piper, but you know I, the king of Christmas, would not forget the key element. I'm waiting to ask the pine tree expert herself...which, actually is so ironic given her patron's being the og Santa."

Annabeth shook her head, turning her gaze upward at the ceiling. "You know one of these days she and her patron are going to kill you, let alone jackelopify you, and I'm really not going to stop them."

John raised an eyebrow, "Who, exactly, is the pine tree expert?"

"Thalia," Piper informed him, plopping onto the couch with resignation.

"Jason's immortal sister?" He checked, his confusion only growing at the affirmative nod she gave.

"And mine!" Ben called from somewhere across the house.

"Right." John's nose scrunched. "Why is she the pine tree expert?"

"Oh, she was briefly a pine tree. Beautiful one, really, and she defended the camp's barriers, it was sick as Hades. I'm glad she's alive again of course," Percy clarified nonchalantly.

"Seaweed brain, I don't know that six years qualifies as briefly," Annabeth griped. "But yeah, John, long story short she was dying so Zeus turned her into a pine tree, and when Percy and I brought back the golden fleece its magic was powerful enough to heal the tree of its poison and bring her back to life."

The mortal's jaw was close to dropping comedically, but he swallowed and closed his eyes momentarily. "You know, every time I think I'm done being shocked at the world of the gods, something bizarre happens and proves me completely wrong. Anything else I don't know about?"

"Annabeth stabbed a cyclops in the toe when she was seven," Percy said cheerfully. "Oh, and your girlfriend used to wear makeup and helped her boss turn me into a guinea pig."

"I've always wished there were pictures of that glorious day," Piper simpers, ducking as Percy chucks a bell-laden wreath at her. "Love you too, Perce!"

"Wise girl, how much longer will you be working with Piper? Ben and I are almost done and if you can I really need help with this english paper-I wrote it and all, but the grammar and spelling definitely need some reworking, and I don't think my thesis is strong enough." He gave her a weak smile and she interlocked their fingers with the practice of someone who'd done it a million times.

"Of course. I think Piper is ready for a break, and gods know her and John probably want to binge watch House of Cards, as always, so I'm all yours."

Percy kissed the back of her hand cheeky. "My favorite words."

"If I'd known things would get this mushy I would've brought Clarisse," Piper claimed from where she grasped the wii remote on the couch.

"Tell me about it, I live with these romantic nuts," Ben confided as he came back into the room, the wrapping ribbons and bows covering every inch of his exposed skin visible in all their glory. "And Annabeth, don't worry, if once you finish helping Piper and Percy you need help with your homework, Mom doesn't make me go to bed till midnight on the weekends." His mastered reassuring tone brought on another round of laughter.

"I might just take you up on that, kiddo."

~/~

Hours later, after she had helped both Percy and Piper some more, she isolated herself in her and Percy's room with the express wish that she be left alone to finish her work unless one of them pulled a Leo; years in the Athena cabin left her needing quiet and solitude to be productive, and while she had learned to work with Percy brushing up against her, the chaos of all four of the adolescents currently in the apartment would be far more than her concentration could handle.

And of course, it was nice to have some time alone to think. While she could dimly hear the banter and musical renditions from the living room, her mind was holistically left to wander through topics such as Thanksgiving, and the probability that she could make it work so that they are all in California together...and what about those still at Camp Half-Blood?

Will and Nico would be completely willing to come, of course, and Piper's father lived there so she would naturally make the trip, but what about the others, who Annabeth had spent years and years of Thanksgivings with? For so long, Chiron and Clarisse had been two of the most consistent faces she knew, the ones she thanked the gods for as she sacrificed the best bit of sweet potato casserole each holiday.

Hopefully she could either get them there or figure out some kind of transportation between the two so she could split the day half and half...last year she had been at home with Percy, Sally, and Ben for each of the holidays: necessary for her, after Tartarus, but now that the war was over and she had mostly resettled, it felt right to return to the normalcy of the five years of her life that had been the most formative-to spend time with the people she had come to love, but also the people who had chosen to love her back then-even Clarisse, as much as they pretended to disagree and detest each other.

And of course, in the even more distant future was college. She and Percy had established that they wanted to study in New Rome together, but there was still a part of her that wanted to apply to other colleges around the country, just to give herself more options, even if the likelihood they would accept someone so prone to expulsion in the past was slim.

She didn't know how Percy would react if she changed the plan, though, didn't know how set on that particular future he was-and much as she rejected the idea of high school sweethearts making life changing decisions based on each others', after everything they'd been through there was no way she and Percy were about to be apart.

Safety wise, PTSD wise, emotionally...it just wouldn't go well.

Either way, she was trying not to worry about it too much; he'd been working his ass off since they got back to school, always studying and getting his work done even when his brain made it feel impossible. He asked her for help often, and even beyond that he had started going to tutoring sessions, and had started up this study group thing with Piper.

It was amazing to see, and he was so dedicated; she knew it had started out as a way to make sure he would be able to get into UNR, but recently...it was something else. He studied beyond what he needed to make average marks, he prepared to the point where she knew it was't about keeping up with her anymore: it was about him. Somewhere along the way he had started caring about his grades for the sake of his own satisfaction. Maybe, just maybe...he would be open to going somewhere else. They still had a year and a half to decide, anyway.

"Annabeth?" She heard Sally's melodious voice ring through the apartment and hopped off the bed, knowing that if she and Paul were back after their beach day they were probably (definitely) overwhelmed by their sons' extravagant display, and ready for dinner; gods knew she was, so hopefully they would be up for ordering a pizza.

Exiting the room, she was once again blessed with the musical stylings of the sons of the big three, now engrossed in their duet while I spied Piper and John maneuvering throughout the kitchen, him hovering over a pan of ziti while she pulled a tray of green bean casserole-the only non-breakfast dish she was capable of preparing without burning-out of the oven.

"I really can't staaaaaay," Percy squawked as she approached his mother, eyes alight with amusement.

"Hi, Sally, hi Paul. How was your day?"

"Seemingly less eventful than yours," Paul chortled. "Did Santa's elves visit?"

Her eyes rolled. "Something like that. The moment you drove away your sons all but bounded to the store and declared it was time to decorate."

"Baby it's cold outside," Ben crooned, jumping atop the living room table.

Sally shook her head delightedly. "I'd tell him to get down, but heaven knows that furniture has survived worse from those to when I'm gone." Annabeth grimaced, unable to deny it.

"Speaking of the holidays, Piper and I were thinking it might be fun if we went to California for Thanksgiving break? We could have a joint family dinner at my dad's place, and we could stay in Camp Jupiter-the boys could go to holiday shebangs with some of the others, you two could have some well-deserved vacation time..." she trailed of hopefully.

Sally pursed her lips thoughtfully, gazing at Paul, who gave a shrug and a nod, looking upbeat, and the woman turned back to Annabeth. "You don't think Frederick would find it imposing?"

Annabeth waved a hand. "Oh, it's nothing, the first time he met Percy they borrowed-slash-destroyed his car, after that I doubt much fazes him."

Eyeing her sons as they serenaded each other across the room, Sally smiled. "Well, why not. Maybe a California Christmas could be fun too."

"Yay!" Piper exclaimed, and they all jumped, too absorbed to notice her approach. "Dinner's ready. John, pack your bags, you and Annabeth get to see your girlfriend!"


End file.
